Completed [Jungle Wilds] A Colorful Chicken

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

Jungle Wilds, 22nd of Bell, 2nd of Spring 514 A.V

Even in the depths of night, the tropical jungle wilds of Falyndar was still teeming with noises, chirps of insects, cries of nocturnal animals, and scuffling of nighttime herbivores, and nocturnal predators prowling about. One of these predators were a deceptively frail-looking small humanoid girl with long dark hair and scarlet reptilian eyes, the Viper Dhani in human form named "Aka". Well, she was truly frail in terms of physical strength, the lithe and slender limbs couldn't take much physical punishment, but being a Viper, she had inherent fast reflexes, agility, and speed so it evens out, but by Ivak, how Aka sometimes wished she could be stronger.

The Viper was leaning her back onto a particularly large jungle tree, examining her own arms, over the past seasons since she had arrived here in the wild untamed jungle, Aka noticed she increasingly had more stamina and could endure wounds and pains better than before, it must be the result of her caught in the fray of combat with Myrians, predators, and monsters, also the fact that Senka loved to play wrestling matches with her. Nevertheless, Aka loved it, at least she was not that frail any longer, she clenched her hands into fists, then turned around as Aka made a fast punch to the trunk behind her. *THUD*... a particularly poor move for the incompetent melee combatant as Aka's hand immediately screamed at her for being so stupid, she pulled it back then groaned in pain.

Evil tree, it must be purposely hardening its bark just to hurt her, Aka held her right fist near her chest as she hunched down in pain, whimpering, her reflexes and speed didn't match up with her strength and thus, her punch might be fast but the feedback from punching a sturdy surface hurt her more than it hurt her target. With an annoyed snarl, Aka stood back up then leaned her forehead on the bark, idly rubbing her stomach with her left hand, she was hungry, she had not eaten in a few days and Aka fancied a delicious tapir or Okapi meal or both. Besides, she came out here to hunt them in the first place, it was just that both of these animals were elusive and she hadn't seen a sign of them since bells ago.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

The Viper didn't transform to her Dhani or Snake form on purpose as she preferred traversing with two legs, she was not big and powerful as Constrictors and couldn't just plow through vegetations, also not having legs made it harder so for a small, nimble, and agile Dhani, her human form was best in this jungle environment. Aka didn't really mind about losing her heat-vision or vibration senses, her keen senses had been honed to surgical precision even in human form, product of months and months of endless skirmish with Myrians.

The Viper was a master reimancer, she pride herself on that, however... her acrobatic talents, the staple and most famous trait of the Vipers - aside from their venom - lagged far behind her magic, and a human managed to outmatch her in the past, a boy named "Fin", how embarrassing, how uncouth, how humiliating, Aka couldn't accept this, she was a Viper for Ivak's sake, no other races should beat her, heck even Tinnok, that half-breed was even more nimble than her. Petch, snarling in proud jealousy, the Viper opted to hunt while polishing her parkour arts. She looked up at the tree, the high branches, the dangling vines... then a figurative glowstone plopped on her head, yes, she would gain leverage while using practicing. Cracking her neck and fingers, Aka then began her plan.

First, she exhumed her gaseous res from her palms, then the reddish res began traveling along the tree bark, circling it, and grouping into individual 'blocks', shaping the outlines of circular stair-like 'steps' along the hard bark, she kept it there then Aka willed her mind to transmute the first block into crimson stone, building the first step, she flexed her legs, preparing her nimble muscles, then dashed forward as she jumped to the block, landing on her right foot, "Woah..." Aka used her right hand to hold the bark for balance while her left extended to help her footing, inhaling then exhaling, Aka knew what to do, hopefully, it would go as planned.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

"One, two, three!" Counting, Aka transmuted the steps, each one higher than the last as she jumped, landed, balancing, then jumped again, it was an thrilling task, climbing the three in an unorthodox manner. The excitement only grew as she went higher and higher from the ground, her adrenaline starting to rush as Aka kept her eyes locked upwards, Don't look down... don't look down... she repeated in her mind. Being a Viper, Aka was accustomed to the dry desert and obviously, deserts didn't provide any high footing or tall trees so it was kinda expected the Viper had a fear of heights, but nothing compared to her hydrophobia.

As she gained more and more height, Aka's speed started to slow down as her mind gave way to more caution and less speed, another step, then another, then another, balancing herself each time, in about two chimes, she almost reached the top of this particularly large tree, and then... "Woah..." She peeked out her head from the topmost jungle canopy and the view was breathtaking. Huge stretch of green lay before her, truly amazing, the power of nature... which she so often burned with abandon. Aka immediately felt guilty. Countless times she had burned patches of the jungle down without giving a single care to the lives here, she destroyed both the Myrians and innocent nature. The Viper became silent as she sat there on the treetop, contemplating about her life.

I should respect the jungle and, life in general, more... Finished by that thought Aka slunk back beneath the treetops. Shaking her head to get stray leaves and twigs out of her long twin ponytails, Aka examined them and opted to change her hairstyle for the moment. Untied long hair could cause complications when traversing through the jungle, but it seemed even her twin ponytails style was still not adequate when she was above the trees, Aka pulled at her ribbons then shook her head, letting the waist-length hair cascading down her back then she grouped it into a single long ponytail instead, located behind her head, now they would be less restrictive. Finished with her new hair-do, Aka faced the long branches, gulping as she faced a long sturdy branch.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

Her scarlet slits looked forward then found the branch of another tree close by, if she tried, she could manage to jump from one tree to another through their branches, like a... monkey. Excited by the prospect, Aka flexed her legs as she ran forward, her lithe feet thumping against the bark, extending her hands to the sides to keep her balance, her small form, light weight, and inherent Viper agility certainly help her case here, as she neared the end of this particular branch, Aka prepared her body as she launched herself forward, her humanoid body soaring through the air.

Steady, steady, I can do this! Fueled with adrenaline, Aka's vision tunneled as she focused on her goal, the next branch, after airborne for about two ticks, she landed on the branch, tucking herself into a roll to distribute the force then placing herself on a kneeling position with one knee and the other leg tucked, her head hunched forward, "Huff... huff..." She breathed in and out, no broken bones, no falls, she did it! Though rather rough compared to Tinnok's fluid movements, at least she didn't make a fool out of herself. However, as a Viper Dhani, this wasn't enough, she would be a laughing stock to her fellow kin if she didn't train further.

Nodding to herself, Aka stood up then went on a parkour spree, her feet thumping forward as she traversed on the tree tops, jumping to skip a small gap between the branches, one, two, three calculated steps, then preparing for a big leap as she jumped from one tree to the next. She felt so alive, this was how a Viper should live, on the move and vibrant, not cooped up in a giant nest filled with brutish constrictors, but alas, it was necessary. For these reasons, Aka truly enjoyed her parkour spree for she wouldn't get this chance often.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

Seeing a higher branch, Aka's scarlet eyes glinted as she prepared her body, giving it all she got, then jumped up, soaring through the air, her hands extended above her head, grasping the branch then used it as a swing to vault herself forward, continuing her 'flight' then landed on another tree branch with a roll. The jungle wild's large and dense vegetation made such thins possible, she wouldn't be able to do this in the coniferous forest of the Cobalt Mountains. As she landed, her breath gasping, Aka slowly stood up then her eyes widened as met face-to-face with a... bird of sort. A bird with colorful feathers, a crown on its head, the most notable feature was its odd claw-like appendages on both of its wings, it was grasping a branch, or perching. Both creatures stared at each other for a tick before the bird did what birds did most, panicking, it squawked and flapped its wings at the Dhani, attempting to intimidate the intruder away from its territory. She didn't know its official name, but it would be known as "Treshal" to the Zinrah populace.

"Er..." Aka simply stood there as she quirked an eyebrow, this fowl-looking bird was going to chase her away? How amusing, Aka's stomach growled as her right hand went to her belly, it looked... - she licked her lips - delicious. Aka was about to prepare her res before she realized more screeches and squawks echoed in her area, whipping her head around, the Viper now found herself surrounded by no less than twenty of these chickens, all of them perching on the surrounding branches.

"Crap..." Aka bit her lip, unless these birds had some kind of magic or immune to fire, Aka would handle them just fine, but... not without burning down the trees with it, she just promised to herself to respect life more, how dastardly of her to break her promise a bell after making it. The flock of chicken-birds kept squawking and screeching, obviously trying to chase her away and to be frank, Aka was getting annoyed, and she was annoyed, things tend to burn, however... not today, she would show nature that even an Azenth could have some form of restraint.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

She could climb down quickly from here, the large sturdy leafs, light weight, nimble body, and her magic would provide enough cushion to lessen the impact, bruises would be there... but at least no broken bones and deaths... hopefully. But if she retreated from chickens, then she would be worse than chickens, no no, she would get something from them, let them pay for annoying her. Puckering her lips as Aka idly whistled a tune, her gaseous res was already exhuming from her palms, stealthily enveloping one of the bird's neck with res, then... she quickly transmuted it a stone collar, then clenched it tight, snapping the bird's neck in less than a tick, obviously, the avian died immediately then Aka used the remainder of her res to pull the collar to her, bringing the bird to her arms. It was rather large, its length more than a half of her height, the Viper put the bird down on a laying position next to her as she hugged it like a pillow, forming a plan in her mind.

The fatality of their flock members caused the birds to go berserk as their squawking and screeching got louder, some of the braver females began charging to the intruder, attempting to peck and claw the murderer to death. Aka needed to think fast if she was to avoid death by fowls, no, she wouldn't burn down the jungle this time.

Pressing herself close to the dead bird, the Viper grabbed at its wings then used it to further tuck her body in its embrace, res quickly hissed out from her whole body as they covered the dead bird and her whole form, in the shape of a cocoon, then she transmuted the outer layer into sturdy stones, creating a stone protective shell around her. She could hear those birds futilely pecking and scratching away at her little fortress, they weren't an issue anymore, she got all the time she needed.

[Soshakuakamamushi]

Common Snake-Tongue Arumenic

Inside, Aka used the inner layer to cover herself in a sphere of cushioning air, this would lessen the impact as she enacted her next move, falling. Exhuming a small amount of res to hiss out the cocoon, Aka caused a blast of air to push the stone to the side, making it roll and fall from the tree branch, plummeting into the ground below. Aka closed her eyes as she curled herself into a ball, her form protected by thick dense layer of reimantic air. "Kuh! Agh! Gah!" Her grunts echoed inside the cocoon as the thing bumped here and there in its one-tracked path to the jungle floor below. After about ten ticks, the cocoon made contact with the ground with a loud thud. The birds, convinced the intruder was gone or dead, left it alone, no one could survive a fall of that height...

Or so they thought, "Ha.. phew..." the cocoon cracked open and the 'butterfly' emerged in the form of a small humanoid girl with long dark ponytail and scarlet reptilian eyes, her robe were disheveled and a couple of bruises marring her chest, waist, hips, and shoulders, but other than that, Aka was good to go. "Heeeh..." Cracking her neck, the Viper groaned as she examined her kill, already licking her lips as she exhumed her res in her right palm in the shape of a small dagger, then she conjured it into stone, using the transmuted weapon to cut a small piece of meat from the bird's thigh. "Mmm~" Putting it to her mouth, the Viper chewed and hissed in delight, by Ivak, it was delicious, but... it was smelly, it literally smelled like shyke, she realized it too late, but boy, the meat was good.

Deciding that roasting the bird would take away the smell and made its meat even more delicious, Aka climbed off from her cocoon then flowed out her res to cover the cocoon, sealing off the hole, then began rolling it on the ground beside her, bringing it back to Zinrah. She would enjoy some chicken meat tonight.

[Traverse]

Aka

Experience:

• Acrobatics 3 XP
• Endurance 2 XP
• Running 1 XP
• Unarmed Combat 1 XP

Lore:

• The Beauty of Falyndar's Jungle
• Reimancy Technique: Floating Steps
• Finding a Treshal
• Reimancy Technique: Earthen Cocoon with Wind Buffer

Consequences:

Set of bruises on the arms and legs that will last for about a month, gradually fading over this time period.

Additional Notes :

What a fun thread! All I could think of when you used the word Parkour was a modern Aka in a hoodie flipping around a city, but I like that Aka got a glimpse of another side of the Jungle Wilds and got a quieter perspective, the encounter with the Treshal was very amusing as well.

If you have any questions, concerns, accolades, complaints, etc about your grade, drop me a PM and we can most certainly talk it out.

As always, Safe Travels!