Closed A New Kind of Crazy

[Azael]

10th Day of Summer, 514 A.V

Azael was walking through the forests of Falyndar, the air was heavy and sweat could be seen dripping down his bare upper-body. His trousers were sticking to his skin and he himself was currently doing what any scholarly person would be doing while within a rainforest, talking to a bird. No he had not in fact gone crazy, but he was in the middle of telling the bird a story. ”So here I was, surrounded by 1000 wofofo’s, you know the really weird people things that have hair everywhere but their finger tips, yeah those ones.” The bird hadn’t replied at all, so Azael was more or less talking to himself.

”Don’t fret birdie, I didn’t get killed, I managed to super kick my way outta there, it was a fun fight, I came out on top and a thousand more men are off to die.” Azael stood up straight posing and flexing his muscles, the bird blinked a couple of times before flying off. Azael got angry at this and waved his fist in the air, ”At least tell me what you thought before flying off!” He shouted up into the air, he managed to dodge something that had fallen out from the sky. Azael raised an eyebrow, as he looked at it before realizing what it was. ”Poo? What the hell, that doesn’t tell me any- Oh I don’t care what you think anyway!” He said as he got into a huff and picked up his back to continue on with his journey. His fore-arms was covered by two gauntlets that he managed to pick off the bodies of two recently dead men. They probably couldn’t deal with the awesome-ness of the incoming Azael.

He sighed as he took a drink from his water-skin, it had been a while since he had gotten lost and he didn’t feel as if he could last out here much longer, not because of the forest, but because of over-contained awesomeness. ”Where the hell are the people!” Azael shouted at no-one in particular, he knew this was probably a dumb idea but then again what else could he do?

[Traverse]

Birds chirped nonchalantly in the canopy. A shy lemur leapt away from the trees surrounding Azael, disturbed by the noises he made, while insects thrummed on, seemingly undisturbed by the odd human in their midst.

Two expressionless red eyes, however, were very intent on the loud mouthed human. Standing tall the thin creature twitched its head sideways, watching the being first converse with the bird, then simply yell into the forest. It was hungry. Dhani were too large to eat safely, Myrians often knew the creatures tricks and swarmed in too great numbers for it to be safe to hunt them. This thing, however, was all alone and screaming like a howler monkey.

Howler monkeys, however, had the safety of trees. The young Ya'Tago began to move forward slowly, its green hide blending in perfectly with the massive ferns and grass that surrounded it, hooked claws opening and shutting eagerly as it eyed its prey.

Azael would hear rustling to his right, combined with a strange inhuman chattering sound, like the clacking of teeth or bones, something hard scratching upon something else. The foliage rustled once more, and then a massive insect a few feet taller than he lunged out of the forest, slender wings outstretched to keep it air born a bit longer, looking to land right on top of the unsuspecting human. The Ya'Tago's incisors clicked together furiously eager to dig into the soft flesh of its prey.

[Azael]

Azael crossed his arms in a huff, things were getting boring and he had no-one to talk to, he had to be careful with the way he crossed his arms now, as the gauntlets he was wearing could possibly cut him, well one of them could. The sound of the wildlife all around him was something he had yet to get used to, it was a rather strange thing being able to hear this much life especially when you’re from Black Rock. Sure there were a number of animals there, but nowhere near this amount. ”Ahh, I could get used to this….Probably anyway.” He looked up into the sky, hopefully it wouldn’t rain, he hated rain.

It was that moment that Azael heard it, the rustling in the bushes, it put him on edge each and every time. It was a rather horrible feeling, but it also made his blood pump. The chattering made him heat up beyond what the heat cold do. His body as preparing itself for whatever it was, flight, flight or laughter. Whatever came out Azael probably wasn’t prepared, but he was confident in his ability to survive. He didn’t have enough time to morph into his set piece, but that could come soon enough. Another rustle put Azael on the edge, what the hell was coming, and then he saw it from the corner of his eyes. Azael was tense, before he threw himself forward, he rolled on his side before standing up. ”Fetch, your mumma must have given the good type of greens eh?” He said as his eyes were forced wide open.

Azael didn’t know what to do with the current situation, this thing was fast, faster than Azael now, morphing wasn’t an option. So there was only one option left and that was to duke it out. He’d finally prove his worth. ”Honestly, I know you probably want to eat me; like who the hell wouldn’t think it’d be awesome to eat me, even I’d eat me.” He said as he slowly backed away, he made sure to make a circling motion, it was a small clearing, out running it wasn’t an option. Finding a small enough opening in the foliage had to be it. Big enough for Azael and small enough for this thing not to fit through. He looked at a small opening right behind him, would he be able to get through it? Azael looked back at the creature that had tried to assault him just seconds earlier, what could he make of this situation.

[Traverse]

The Ya'Tago circled Azael curiously. It hadn't had much dealing with the fleshy things, but it seemed to recall they didn't speak that much, at least the one's it had encountered. It's body bent forward, wings flickering in and out of its body in anticipation, waiting for just the right time to

JUIMP

The Ya'Tago lunged forward, but the spot in which it landed had no man upon it, in fact the creature had slid into a small hole beneath the roots of a tree. Chattering angrily the Ya'Tago extended one of its serrated claw appendages forward, digging into the hole, and just barely, not able to reach Azael where he was curled up within it.

It attempted a few more times, then backed upward, letting out a furious earsplitting shriek of frustration and anger.

That was when Azael heard the most peculiar of noises, a sort of tap like soemthing bouncing off something else hard. If he dared peer out of his hiding place he'd be just in time to see an arrow soar out of the sky and bounce harmlessly off the Ya'Tago's thick carapace. The creature's attention was torn away from the hole in which its prey hid, attention turned toward the direction the two arrows had come from.

But Myrians knew arrows weren't the way to bring down a Ya'Tago, and suddenly from behind the beast two howling dark skinned barbarians raced out of the foliage, attaching themselves to the great insect without a tick of hesitation. One had a hand axe that began slicing at the based of the thing's neck, the other had a sickle it was trying to sink into its thorax.

The Ya'Tago howled, shaking its body, trying to open its wings in retaliation. This threw off the male sickle bearer, but the female still hacking away at the neck was getting somewhere, and her legs curled around the thing's body, its head unable to turn, its limbs unable to reach that far back.

Hissing the Ya'Tago dipped its head and charged into a tree, knocking the female square int he head, dazing her enough that the next round of stamping and flapping and shrieks shook her off, the insect leaping up and away, directly over the hole in which Azael was within, backing against the tree trunk, sensing it was cornered....

[Azael]

Azael was glad he had managed to get into underneath the tree, the weird bug nearly had him for a second forcing him to push against the back of the small opening underneath the tree. He had gained an advantage now. Forcing off his gauntlets, and packing them into his bag in the matter of seconds; he began to morph. He had the desired shape in mind, it was the only one he was completely sure he could complete. His bones began to arrange themselves differently, his skin began to sprout both orange and black hairs which were arranged in a striped pattern, and his teeth grew large. The metamorphosis had lasted half a minute, but it was at this point that Azael was in the form of a small tiger.

He could hear weird noises outside, had another one of those things gotten here? Was the thing fighting something? It didn’t matter, he had to survive. He glanced out of the hole and saw the Ya’tago fighting….Two people, and they were doing pretty well. Soon enough that thing would go down, but it didn’t seem like it would be an easy fight.How can hero like me just stand by, I gotta beat this thing up, maybe find out it’s anatomy, it’d be awesome to morph into it. I might even try to sell its parts, yep sounds good, gotta go out there.

Thinking to himself was gonna solve nothing, the second he creature was over the hole he was at, Azael would aim to jump out and attack its legs. His size and weight which were more or less the same as before would be helpful in this full bodied attack. He’d choose to hang on with both his claws and teeth. Right after jumping out, Azael released a roar, which would hopefully distract the creature a little.
OOCThe size of the tiger is more or less equal to your usual jaguar or leopard, didn’t stray from his original mass much.
Left the combat bit open, hopefully he’ll still have a lower body at the end, well I guess the Myrians might get a two for one deal.

[Traverse]

The Ya'Tago was shaking itself off, trying to recover, the female Myrian lying prone on the ground. Another arrow flew out of the foliage, but this one was wreathed in flame and sunk into the creature's neck in the small hole the female had made with her knife.

The creature jabbed one arm down towards the prone female, but with a cursed shout the male with the sickle bullcharged into its thorax, knocking its strike off of center and forcing it into the ground about a foot away.

Which was also about the time that a tiger, smaller and leaner than most found in the jungle, lunged out of its hiding place and launched itself onto the lower end of the Ya'Tago. Finding purchase would be hard on the thick exoskeleton, but a single claw punctured the body, causing the insect to hiss in pain and anger, the flaming wound in its neck and weight and pain near its thorax causing it to spin wildly, desperately trying to dislodge the offending enemy.

Azael would find himself being spun, and the female lying beneath this chaos recovered enough from her stunning blow to roll out of the mayhem, the Ya'Tago falling down from the weight of the tiger.

That was when another male Myrian, two handed battle axe in hand came running, ignoring the tiger, if but for a moment, to deliver a killing blow on the insect, the full weight of two muscled arms coming down full force on the creature's already injured neck, severing the head completely.

The insect twitched once, twice, and then ceased moving altogether, and now around Azael 5 warriors emerged from the greenery, forming a circle around him, the female and two males joining them, weapons drawn. Tigers were a symbol of Navre, and not one that Myrians were quick to kill, but one wrong move...
c

[Azael]

Azael found himself being spun around but he merely gripped down harder. This this was rather powerfully Built but he was sure one of his claws had indeed drawn blood if the wet feeling was something to go by. Still Azael's efforts to cling on were for naught, he was thrown off soon enough, he spun a couple of times and found himself thankful for the tiger's powerful build. He felt a little dizzy still, but it was at this point back up had arrived for the rather strange duo, flaming arrows and now this man had killed the powerful creature.

Still this was no time for celebration, Azael who had just gotten up had just been surrounded. Were these people going to kill him too? If only he could speak; that would make things a good deal easier. Now that he had a chance to get a closer look at these guys they were most likely Myrian. He had met a few on black rock in the past and knew a good bit of their language that he picked up from a number of different sources.

Huh, they don't look like they'll attack me yet I guess I'm just that good. Alright, should I mess with them? Hell yeah! Azael sat down similar to what a dog would and began to way his tail. Maybe these guys wouldn't know how a dog would act but surely they'd know how weird it was for a tiger to do this. He stood up slowly once more and tried to stand on his front legs alone falling flat onto his stomach. He was in a prone position now, it was their move now.

[Traverse]

The Myrian's eyes the tiger warily, but all took note of its size. It looked more like an adolescent than an adult, and when it sat calmly on its haunches and began flicking its tail back and forth without a care, everyone's armaments were lowered slightly.

"By Navre we can't kill it like this." That was the moment when Azael rose up onto his haunches, trying to stand and failing at it. A few axes were raised,a bowstring pulled back, but muscles relaxed as he dropped down onto his belly.

"Could be sick, no wild tiger, even a cub should act like this."

"It's coat is fine and healthy, its instincts sharp if it was able to get a hold of the Ya'Tago, here let me try..."

"Mraari..." a voice cautioned, but the female that spoke before began to step forwardlow sly toward Azael, her dark eyes focused on his.

Glancing back at her fang Mraari spoke softly. "Gretz, Hallin, cut up the Ya'Tago into manageable pieces so we can bring it back to the city and have some for dinner tonight."

As her comrades warily got back to work, Mraari offered a hand towards the littler tiger who just happened to be Azael, her legs bending, eyes steady and voice calm as she spoke. "If you don't harm us little one, by Navre's graces we won't harm a hair on your head." The whole conversation being in Myrian, Azael could pick out the general gist of everything that had just transpired.

An arrow was still pointed at his back, however, a stubborn male who wasn't willing to see his fang leader get her hand bitten off by a wayward young tiger.

[Azael]

Azael could partially understand their conversation, but he understood one thing. They didn’t want to hurt him yet which was certainly a good thing. Now he could work with this; while messing with them was certainly possible, Azael needed to worry about survival for the time being. Since they seemed to trust him in his tiger form, Azael wasn’t going to risk transforming back into a human just yet, or maybe for a good while. He’d already decided on his course of action, he could always come back for his bag later. Still having a weapon pointed at your back would put anyone off, as much fun as Azael was having at the moment, dealing with the trust problem probably had to come first.

Azael watched two of them go to cut up the Ya’tago, and he wanted to haul it off for sale or at least learn to morph into it….Well in the end he could run into another one, who knew what kind of creatures this jungle was hiding. He’d find out soon enough, now to deal with the trust problem. Watching a woman slowly come up to him, Azael slowly sat on his back legs once more. This form wasn’t as draining as it could be, but he’d need to speed things up so he could transform back, he didn’t want to risk seeing what would happen.

”Alright, she’s sticking out her hand, what should I do…..Maybe if this guy behind me wasn’t so wary I could….Hm, I couldn’t really do anything then either...Eh, I’ll see how it goes.”He thought to himself, he looked at the hand and then into the woman’s eyes. He moved closer slowly to take a sniff….This is what a tiger would do right? He then butted his head against it a couple of times before standing up fully. He aimed to walk past her, and toward the Ya’Tago, hopefully that man wouldn’t shoot him, he was doing something rather risky. He went up to the giant bug that was being cut up and sniffed it.

They wouldn’t harm him as long as he didn’t harm them, that sounded like a pretty fair trade-off. ”This is a pretty sweet deal, follow them around during hunts, get a cut, run off, cook it. Find a couple of animals to morph into too, that sounds like the sweetest deal around!” He clearly didn’t think much about the possibility of dying during his time alone, but he thought that sticking close to their homes would be a smart idea, just a way to find his bag when coming back...

[Traverse]

The woman identified as Mraari waited patiently, smiling as the tiger sniffed her hand, then butted it a few times, her fingers reaching around and giving Azael a good scratch behind his ears, rotating on her haunches slightly as he went ot investigate the Ya'Tago.

"Hult, give him a bit of meat, he helped bring it down." She barked. There was a grunt of affirmation and one of the male's hacking into the corpse of the Ya'Tago threw out a sliver of the strange meat located inside the insect's thorax.

With that Mraari rose, brushing her hands off on loose cotton pants and signalling with a finger for her fang to get into formation for the return to Taloba. "Pleasure meeting you young one, but we have to get back to the City of Bones."

The remainder of the insect was distributed amongst the fang mates, and even Mraari, who appeared to be the leader, was not exempt from carrying a bit of the massive insects, grabbing its head, now wrapped in leaves and sliding it into a large leather back before settling it between her shoulder blades. Positioning the bag in place she smiled once more at the tiger, and then the Myrians disappeared into the foliage, fanning out into the wide lines they liked to take up, keeping each individual to the left and right just barely in sight as they moved through the forest.

The male that had had the arrow trained on Azael was the last to go, his bow still half drawn, though he gave the feline a slight nod before turning away and fading with the rest into the foliage. Azael's free meal ticket was leaving, and rather fast at that.