Survivor (Ana)

[Aello]

Timestamp: Spring 18, 513 AV "No you can't have any clay now," Aello responded to the pycon who was perched upon her shoulder. "But I'm hungry!" Lily whined as she kicked her legs against the supple curve of Aello's bone. "Well so am I," the huntress responded calmly as her thumb danced over her bow's grip. "But you don't hear me complaining about it." "But you never talk Aello!" the pycon added as her lips drooped into a pout, and hands fell from on high into her lap with a soft clap. The girl's muddied irises danced over to her companion, offering a stern look that silenced her. "You'll eat when I do," the Treaver said as she wove through a series of trees. The folds of her deep green cotton dress rippling across her form with each of her soft steps. Heels which stepped around fallen leaves and debris so as not to make any more noise; drawing attention to herself. The huntress drew in a deep breath, in through the nose, and out through the mouth. It sounded like little more than a sigh. Hunting as long as this, after all, always made her tired.

[Ana Sol Starris]

The few days before when Ana had first begun to plan a hunting trip had left her sore, the bruises on her side had darkened and were generally uncomfortable, caused by a little scuffle in the streets with a rather rude boy who wouldn't give her replies to her questions. Now here she was with her new gear, a quiver strapped to her back filled with a dozen or so arrows, and a bow in her left hand skulking about in the woods outside of the cities walls. There hadn't been anyone to stop her, Zandelia could care less and was too love struck by Revy, and Ximal was busy as always training, or from what she had gathered, working in the quarries. No one to stop her from being reckless, and why should they? She wasn't their problem in the first place. Ana was her own person, she didn't need a baby sitter just to be safe, but heading into the wildlands alone with nary a wilderness skill was a bit much. She was definitely asking to be killed, unaware she was sending those little signals out, because of course Ana was reckless. Too confident her luck would continue to hold up, even when it seemed to have fallen, she was still alive, still sane, and here she was in the forests. Skittering about the forest floor, perhaps in her earlier years it could have been called tromping, when she had little idea how to step silently. Not that she was the most stealthiest person in the world, she was better than most. Perhaps it was because of how she slunk about the trees and bushes that she hadn't been discovered yet by a hungry predator. The forest reminded her of a miniature Spires, and held many of the same annoyances, it was always 'watch out for the leaves, make sure your clothes don't catch on bushes' or 'watch out for that branch about to hit your head' was exactly what had just happened. Smack dab in the middle of her face was a branch that had put itself there, making Ana cringe and spaz at the suddenness of it, cringing, ducking, she pushed it up and away from her face, at the branch she would glare meanly at it. Who put that branch there?? No one put that branch there, but she wanted to believe someone had just because she didn't see it in the first place. Very logical. Very much so indeed. Against the same tree who's branch had hit her in the face, she slid down its trunk and looked into the gloom wondering where she was. "Right, you've gotten yourself lost. Wonderful." Muttering at herself quietly, her head turned upwards to look towards the tree tops, trying to see if the sun were still there where she could see it. The trees prevented her from being able to. Looking back towards the way she came, she tried to look past the trees, mentally gauging which directions she had turned. "If I went that way... I should be able to go that way again.. Or.." I could possibly try to cut through the forest.. "this way" Ana's head turned to look to her left, all the while whispering quietly to herself. That way has to be Nyka. There would be no point in hunting if she couldn't return to the city with her kills, if she even made them, or saw potential food. Which was even more pointless! She didn't even know how to shoot a bow! Why was she here in the first pla- ... Hunting. Setting her bow down, she placed her face into both hands and rubbed, more aggravated over her stupidity, than anything else.

[Aello]

Her steps sounded softly against the terrain. Each taken measured, precise. Heels grating against stone, causing displaced grains of dirt to slide as the terrain itself rolled easily. Rising and falling over and over again, just as did the woman's chest. Her impatient thumb following the supple curve of her father's old bow. Her muddied irises darting back and forth, seeking more than a memory's vision of torn branches and trembling leaves. Aello's ears prickled against the silence of the forest. The passage of birds above the trees; the endless circuitous route taken by the sun. The chittering of squirrels in places she could not hear. Scurrying of hooves and padded paws against earthen mounds which rose off in the distance, beyond her line of sight. Magical or otherwise. "Why do you think it is so quiet Lily?" Aello asked. "Spring should have sprouted new life within the forest's depths." The pycon shrugged. "Maybe all the tasty animals decided their winter nap just wasn't long enough." The huntress scowled. "Well you asked!" Lily commented as they continued on their way. Moving in silence for several more chimes until a shadow crept into the corners of the Treaver's vision, causing her to proceed with caution. Step after step, the huntress moved silently, until she was positioned to the far side of a tree. Half of her body shrouded by its trunk and lower branches, the rest exposed, should the shadow's castor only turn and look. From here, she could discern the shadow's source. A girl, likely younger than her by the looks of things, with pale skin and golden hair. A bow, which she seemed to be holding awkwardly, as though she didn't know how to use it. Aello's eyes narrowed. Was this another hunter? Or simply someone who would wind up being hunted?

[Ana Sol Starris]

Maybe Ana should have taken more thought and consideration into this outing, before leaving the city walls, and safety. Dragging the hand which held her face down to cover her mouth, pulling the dark eyelids downwards with the movement, a movement of her shoulders and back signalling she had done a rather quiet sigh. Right, no use crying over whats been done, Ana sprung from her seating to stand up with a hop "Right." She reitterated herself, and then a smidge louder "right, well, I can sit here whining at myself and wait for something to come eat me, or I can at least try to make the best of this, and be the one eating something else, before being eaten myself.." Yes. Wonderful plan. Now she had to hope her path to Nyka would be right. "...and you." Ana turned around to point at the bow laying on the ground, being useless "you're going to help me." As if the bow could just up, and shoot something from mid air at that very moment without her help. When only silence came after the demand, a still Ana expecting something grandeous to happen. Nothing did. Shaking her hand, and then her head, she would begin walking around in circles. An exhasperated noise puffing into the air with a breath, showing her frustration "...but I suppose for you to help me, I need to learn how to shoot something first.. Ugh.. Great plan Ana, great plan, you've really screwed yourself over this time." Pausing, her eyes followed back to the bow again, looking at it dejectedly. Wonderful, simply... Leaving that thought unfinished, a wave of anger crossing her form and leaving her staccato for a few still moments. Rooting her in her place, and probably for the better, she must have looked as if she were about to kick something. Balling her fists up and gritting her teeth, muttering out "stupid, stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!" Oh wait, she did end up kicking something. Thwack Went a foot to a tree's trunk, making the leg itself vibrate with pain and send the girl hopping around pitifully on one foot holding the other. Hissing out a great many 'owches' to the air, completely unaware that someone else was listening in. When the pain subsided, she tentatively put her foot on the ground to test it, dislike for a stinging sensation sent the corners of her mouth backwards, baring teeth at the sensation but at least she could stand on it. Testing a few steps forwards, she felt confident enough that she didn't break her foot, again. Her attention went back to the bow. Ana snatched it up, and walked a few circles more just looking at it. It was made of wood, its fine polish was smudged, but it still looked like new to her. Halting, and then gripping the middle of the bows wood, which was the only logical thing to do. She raised it up and held it in front of her, trying to point it at something, again, working only with logical assumptions that she could make at the given moment. What her logic did not catch was not to lock her elbow in place, or stand with her feet slightly spread apart, nor the fact that she wasn't using her dominant eye and instead a dominant hand, and another myriad of problems with her stance, and general hold of the bow. None of this was caught by Ana, how could she know? She knew nothing of any relevance on how to use a bow and arrow. That didn't stop her from pulling the taught string back, feeling the weight behind it and was quite surprised, she kept trying to pull it back perplexed by the resistance. Pausing a moment, she held her arm straight out and really pulled back, feeling her drawstring arm quiver with the effort. Looking at the point, and holding the string there, she let her eyes follow where an arrow could have possibly gone. Only to see a figure, half behind a tree. Releasing the string more so out of surprise, than instinct, feeling a smart snap thwap her forearm harshly, and suddenly. It stung, really, really, really badly. "Petch!" The word flew from her mouth, and the bow itself dropped with a small thud on the ground as she went to grip the affected limb. That was definitely not like anything she had felt before, Ana cussed a second time, bent slightly over and looking towards where the figure was (or had been, if she had decided to move) with wide eyes. Heart pausing itself by a single beat.

[Aello]

As soon as Ana had taken aim in Aello's general direction and loosed her invisible arrow, the huntress moved into the shelter provided by the tree's branches, allowing the displaced air to sail safely past herself and her companion before she glided back around the trunk. Protruding from the shadows, sunlight casting her skin aglow, she emerged with her fist tightly clenching the supple curve of her father's old bow. Her companion's tiny clay cheeks reddening as her own muddied irises darkened at the sight of the frustrated blonde girl who stood before her. The shade crawled over her skin; fine hairs bristling as her boots sounded softly against the hardened earth beneath her feet. Her pale pink lips, now a thin line, parted to emit her words, "you don't know what you're doing, do you?" she asked, her voice strangely soft, although, still edged with ice. A strange sense of authority. The Treaver's thumb trailed impatiently over the supple curve as her eyes surveyed the lost girl. Their innards glimmering cooly as she stood in silence, wondering if Ana would work on adjusting her stance first, or bother to speak again. "That can be fixed, however, if you promise not to do anything quite so stupid again. Dry shooting damages the bow," Aello went on, her eyes following each of Ana's movements. Waiting for sweat to drizzle down her brow, for her flesh to grow paler than it already was. As she waited, colored tendrils rose from the earth. Their vaporous nature slipping through the cracks in the dirt. Dancing lazily in the wind. Swaying around the Treaver's ankles as she watched them move. Mirroring the pulse of the girl's heart. She could hear it thundering, although not too wildly it seemed. Erratically; just enough to hint at her frustration. It was enough for the edges of Aello's lips to curl into a sort of grin. More a smirk really, than anything else. "You can try for something smaller than me, and larger than Lily here when you're ready... a rabbit, perhaps." She paused a moment as her pycon looked up at her. Tiny clay fists tightening around the folds of Aello's attire. So much so, that the huntress could almost feel it bunching. The slight tugs at her side. "But Aello, we don't have time for this!" Lily protested. "We have to do lots of things today?" Aello's smirk widened as she turned to regard her companion. "Such as?" "Feed you so you can feed me," Lily replied, flashing a rather large grin, the huntress was certain would be toothy, had the girl had any. The huntress waved the pycon off. "That'll only take a few minutes..." Her words fell away with the wind. Her turned back, as she marched back into the forest's depths.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Glancing to the girl and back to her arm repeatedly, pulling her sleeve back to stare at a rather nasty welt formed on her forearm. Barely registering the fact the girl also had a bow, not so unsimilar to Ana's, with a rather annoyed demeanor of her own, if Ana could have called it annoyance. Watching her carefully, listening, the voice could have thrown daggers, without looking away Ana would push the sleeve back down her arm to hide the welt. Uprighting herself with a cautious movement, she didn't know how long this girl had been watching, or had been nearby, if she had seen her spurts of childish anger, or if she had wandered close just as Ana had pointed the bow in her direction. Was this girl a dangerous savage, or friendly? Holding the full force of paranoia back, she held her hands slightly out to her sides but one remained close to the hilt potruding out of the black cloak. Ana would not mean any harm, unless the girl came at her, but that didn't seem to be the case. She continued on speaking, lecturing the thief on the bow, so perhaps the girl didn't intend to kill her if she was offering advice. A bead of sweat trickled down one of her temples, an eyebrow quirking upwards in feigned irritation. Corners of her lips jerking into a forced smile as she spoke herself, voice cracking at the end, dry "I didn't know, I just didn't want to waste an arrow if I wouldn't have been able to find it again..." Probably a good thing I hadn't.. I might have accidently shot the girl. It was a small but comforting reassurance. Obviously Ana wasn't dead yet, so she let her posture relax if only enough to have a conversation. The hand which strayed closer to the hilt rested on the handle, not in a way to draw it, but to keep some of the growing tension inside her mind off, never wanting to be caught without the blade. Wetting her lips with the tip of her tounge, eyes flicking between the girl and the small brown thing on her shoulder, what was it with those things? Looked like dirt, but acted, and sounded like people. Back to the girl with the bow, Aello, a name given indirectly by the dirt thing. Thinking. Ana looked back to, hopefully, the direction of Nyka. "Well..what do you.." Ana started, not looking in Aello's direction, eyes swivelling to look back at the girl only to find her retreating "Woah! Hey! Wait!" Ana spluttered out panicky, and hurridly, picking the bow up off the ground and tightening the quivers strap around her shoulder to follow after the girl. Curiousity, smite her. "Yo" she called out with a slightly louder tone, hopping over branches and stepping past logs "so... What do you propose I do? You look like you would be pretty nifty with a bow.." of course that was an assumption because the girl was in the forest as well and seemed to know a lot. Honeyed eyes scanned around the forest, past leaves, and trees, the thick of the wood for animals, closely following behind Aello "suppose you could give me some pointers, or a way back to Nyka? Y'know that place with the monks.. Who ration food.. and are generally big arses about everything having to do with foreigners.. but why are you in the wilds? Isn't it suppose to be dangerous? Do you live out here?"

[Aello]

Aello paused, her feet grating against the soil as she twisted her neck. Peered over her shoulder at the flushed archer. "I've made it a habit not to miss," she commented dryly before she turned and kept on walking. Considering how best to proceed now that she had been fool enough to invite the girl along. Although, something told her that even if she hadn't, the stranger would have done her best to follow them anyway. "Your problem, blondie, is that you don't understand your weapon. How to treat it, care for it, and use it to your advantage," the huntress said after a time. "You likely know that it is used for ranged combat, but, there is more to a bow than that. More than killing." She paused, giving a moment for her words to sink in. "First, you aught to know not to dry shoot again. It's like wrenching keys off a finely tuned organ." She smiled weakly. "Secondly, you need to consider stance. Left foot in front of the right, if you share the same dominance. Left hand on the grip, right on the string. Middle finger and single above hugging the top of the arrow's nock, the one below, the nethers." She shook her head, waved a hand. "But now I'm rambling." Aello fell silent again as a breeze rustled the leaves in the trees. Tousled her chestnut colored mane. "Can't say I've ever been up that way," she began after a time. "Never had the interest. Nor the need, seeing as we hunt well enough on our own. Live out here now..." "Where are you from stranger, for them to call you a foreigner and deny you that which a human needs to survive?" What makes them think that those born outside are any less than those born within?

[Ana Sol Starris]

Well if you miss.. Then you're probably not going to get anything to eat.. or you'll probably wind up dead, or lose your arrow.. The sarcasm flew right over Ana's head, or rather she was taking what Aello said seriously, to the point any sarcasm would have placed on the backburner of her mind for later realization. Her newly aquired aqauintance continued on. Got that right, and I can't even go back to where I bought the petchin' thing without possibly being chased out, or handed to the monks.. Hopefully the store manager didn't notice one dagger missing.. Hah! Not like he would be able to pin point me to the disguise.. Or, at least, I would hope so. Echoing the last of Aello's words in confusion "More than killing?" Attention promptly returning to the girl with the dirt thing on her shoulder, opening her mouth once to continue but finding that Aello had already knew the answer before Ana could ask. Shutting her mouth with a deflated expression. Muttering darkly at the dry-shooting bit, Ana couldn't help but feel the reminder flare up on her arm "friggin welt..arm.." it would definitely serve to remind Ana not to do that again. Glancing down at her feet as Aello mentioned stance, Ana tryed to imagine what she meant, but honestly she was having a lot of difficulty doing that when they were moving. She would have asked for a demonstration, but it seemed like she had waved her hand in dismissal to any possible question. Silence invaded. Left foot in front.. Ana hopped a little, in an attempt to keep moving but at the same time to piece together instructions, right in back, with a hand on the grip.. Gah, I can't do this if we keep walking. Ana felt her her frustration levels spike, so she looked at Aello again, grim faced with words eqaully as so "doesn't matter where I come from, or where anyone does for that matter, they live behind their walls and on top of a huge gash in the ground claiming it to be their mother-cities heart and soul, but I say its supersticion." "Though.. Weird things do seem to crawl around at night.." The afterthought was only added as a whisper when flickers of memories came, she barely slept at all, and the habit had become worse with the fall out between her and Zandelia. Ana saw things at night from her window, in the safety of the Hostel that.. made her second guess her conclusion on the cities culture. Shaking the vibe of crawling sensations off from her shoulders, Ana glanced around the forest again, still utterly lost and confused on their location. "I seriously have to find my way back to that city, I have friends there that I have to patch things up with.. and getting eaten by a forest wouldn't help me none." Was that humor, or desperation? Maybe a little bit of both, glancing up to the sky again to see the sun, a patch of light filtering through meekly past the branches "there seems to be a lot of day left.. D'ya think you might know where a lot of cliffs and qaurries may be? They're connected to the city, and the only way to get in.." Ana personally wanted to know more about the bow, but finding a path back to Nyka first had become a priority for her, wouldn't matter if she were dead in the forest. "You do realize your advice would be a complete and utter waste of your time, and energy, because I unlike you, don't know how to live in a forest.. I'm just out here to catch food for myself, and my friends.." Halting, Ana's words trailed to a quiet thought, turning her head in the direction where she thought the city was. Conjuring images in her head, moving her hands a little to try and point out her own path, muttering lefts, and rights "if I went that way.. and this way.."

[Aello]

"You do realize stranger, that those welts are a sign that you are actually doing something right," Aello commented as she crept along, passing her free hand onto the gnarled bark of a nearby tree. Allowing her fingers to tickle the knots before falling away; returning to her side. Her bow-laden arm twisted, angling itself so that the flatter portion; bearing even paler skin was reflected in the light. If the blonde girl looked, she'd notice how some of the flesh above the elbow and between the wrist had grown puffy. The edges red, while the inner portions were chiseled with red and a deep green. It would only be a momentary flash before the Treaver tucked her arm back into her side, disguising her wounds behind a limb, marginally tanned, and bristling with inner strength. Aello's boots skid against the dirt, drawing it into each of her steps as she continued to make her way, ignoring most of the girl's questions. A small smile trickling across her cheeks as glittering irises flashed pleasantly. "The forest itself won't ever eat you; but its hidden creatures might." Again, she fell silent as she continued to make her way, struggling to find any sets of tracks to follow towards a target; prey. Struggling to find branches she hadn't pushed away or caused to snap herself. Feces that hadn't grown old, and hard. Covered in feasting flies; buzzing softly in the spring breeze. "There are cliffs to the north of here," Aello said rather absently. "Quarries I have not seen. But then again, I can't say I've really looked for them either." She ducked under another low lying branch, pushed through a bush; the leaves rustling around her as splayed limbs trembled. Thorns drawing at her clothes; scraping up several stitches. "Just things to hunt." She paused as she walked into a beam of light. Its warmth caressing her cheeks; causing her flesh to glow. "You can come if you want. I don't need much of what I catch..." Her voice trailed off. "It'd be best to quit talking altogether though."

[Ana Sol Starris]

Enough with the counting.. You're going to lose your guide. Ana snapped at herself inwardly, realizing that the longer she stood there the higher chance she'd be abandoned for being extra weight. Hurrying after the girl, only for the girl to stop for a moment her self, words reprimanding Ana's doubt. Once again, Ana found she had something to say, but time again she wouldn't speak, her eyes catching a glance at the girls arm before dissapearing from sight. That.. Doesn't look healthy..? Ana tried to determine whether or not Aello's condition was... Okay. She hadn't a long enough look to truely make out anything, so Ana had to decide that the bruises were a trick of the light. Grumping at the next answer. Well we're technically in the forest.. There are monsters, and wild animals in the forest, that would mean we could possibly be eaten by the forest's dangers, and thus eaten by the forest... No.. No.. That doesn't make sense at all Ana. Again, the thief would remain silent on her quips. Instead she focused on following after, careful of her own movements behind the girl, and watching where she stepped, hunched over slightly to place less weight on the ground. Silence. Though Ana was uncomfortable with most conversation, and topics, worse than that was complete silence. The chance for an echo, or an immediate noise to sound in the quiet, disturbing the serenity, and it was remarkable that the girl herself was light on her feet. Made less of a presence than Ana did, and that wasn't something the thief liked, being out done by her own ability. Though.. If she had to choose between alerting a predator with a bumbling fool, over the girl.. Ana would take the girl any day. Thwack Again went a branch to Ana's face, she had been so focused on Aello that Ana hadn't seen the branch. Flailing her arms at it, to push it away from her face, feeling a keen sting form on her forehead. It only worked to sour Ana's mood. "Bloody branch.." Ana muttered as she resumed her pace after Aello, trying to crawl through a bush, and then finding... THORNS... Were prickling along both her body and clothes. "Eeeeghh" it was gurgle of a shout, half silenced, half cut, barely audible under Ana's breath as she tried to move through the bush. "Why go through the bush... Why... Why not go around the bleedin' bush..." More mutters, more whispers, as she demanded. When Ana got out of the bush she hopped on a foot, trying to wipe the the thorns and debris off her clothes. "Sure, sure, how can you tell which way is north, or south-" Silence? How will we communicate if we don't talk... Ana cut her own question off, she really felt dumb right now, extremely stupid. "Okay, we can quit talking.. I can work with that.." and she fell silent herself. Gripping her bow, waiting for some cue from Aello- wait. They had never formally introduced. "Oh, I'm Ana, by the way."