Message in a bottle. (Vypec)

by **Wikus** on March 7th, 2016, 3:51 am

5th Spring 516AV
9th Bell

This was a strange day, once again. Ever since the beginning of the season, there was something really strange going on with the population. Cursed and obsessed they were, each and every last one of them, with something in peculiar. It was subtle at first, the very first days of the season. Like an hourglass, the moment the last grain of sand fell and the season began, everyone changed. This stone city was becoming a hub of insanity, of pure and uncontrollable insanity. Just the previous night he had seen a man, dressed with the finest materials seen by Wikus’ ignorant eyes, feeding on every bug he could find. He certainly didn’t do it to satiate his hunger, as he was one of the very few who had a gut in this world, but he didn’t seem to do it for pleasure either. It was a hidden drive to do it, an obsession and an impulse so strong that his knees had to fall down on the stone to crawl in search of every insect possible. Wikus had seen his tears falling as he ate on them, clearly showing how said man was not enjoying any of that.

Unfortunately, Wikus was also affected. The power to control his ink he manifested the previous season was still with him, a power that while useful at times was a great responsibility to control. But that wasn’t enough for this cursed city, whom had claimed his sanity at first to later on curse him with these… symptoms. He had hated himself at first, yet there was no avail to his problem. He had tried everything, every possible idea that came through his mind to fix his issue but nothing worked. Fear at first, despair afterwards. There was no solution to his problem, there was no mending a broken mind. He had no choice, however. Fifth day he was dealing with his issue, and it was… disturbingly unpleasing. It felt forced, yet he felt no pleasure doing it. It was something his body needed, yet his mind simply did not accept. This discrepancy between body and mind was perhaps the worst of it all, as if lightning had split him in two and removed whatever decency he had within him.

He was sexually attracted to animals.

Even thinking about it was disgusting. He did it anyway. Just this morning, a woman was selling every possession she had with the same disgust Wikus had, and five of those items were… hens. He couldn’t refuse, and so he bought them for 1 silver mizas in total. Afterwards, he bought a small sack of feed for them to peck while he guided them through Riverfall’s streets, having dropped some of that feed in his basket while returning the rest into his room in Ati’s Place. However, the madness did not end there. A couple of blocks down the street, a woman snatched his hens and begged to knit them some clothing, as crazy as that sounds. Wikus saw her rush, her obsession, and so he obliged. Now, as he was closing on the beach, his hens followed eagerly the feed he gave them eagerly, spreading it all around for them to peck. Basket hanging from his left hand, the flowers mixed with the sack of feed as a very special hen sat on that same forearm. She was the most beautiful from them all, the most perfect. With a finger, he slowly caressed her feathers, taking care of her as if he was taking care of his own woman. No matter how absurd it sounded, it gave him some sort of pleasure even if the act was not sexual at all. Sex never gave him pleasure, not with women nor men, and he doubted a hen would provide him with something he had never felt.

As soon as he reached the beach, he witnessed it. A tragedy had happened in the distance, a ship half sunken slowly falling into the depths of the ocean. Wikus would never come to a place like the beach, since his fear of water didn’t allow him to face such places in which water was common. Nevertheless, he wanted to escape and be with his five ladies alone without any of that madness to engulf his sanity. In the near distance, there were objects scattered across the beach, and the vulture that lived within Wikus’ mind was awakened as he felt he could find something useful if he dug a bit – if he faced the water. Dubious at first, he made its way towards them with the hopes of not having to get in touch with the water. Thankfully, today he wore his pants. Shirt and footwear were nothing for him, and his loyal whip served to keep his pants together. The ink of his body shined proudly in the white beach, and his hens’ clucking combined with the sounds of the sea and seagulls to form a rather calming soundtrack. With his ladies by his side, he would be able to face his fears. He began making his way towards the scattered debris.

Ledger changes :

WIKUS

Thanks to Kiva for this amazing template.

by **Vypec** on March 9th, 2016, 5:11 pm

The wet tendrils of the Suvan caressed his feet as Vypec surveyed the wreckage of some ocean disaster from the point where sand met water. He had always felt that both the patron Rivarian deities must share some special relationship with Laviku, since their city was constantly in intimate contact with his domain. Vypec had been walking on the beach in a vain attempt at seclusion. He sought relief from the overpowering need to please. He had spent a tireless night pulling weeds from his neighbors garden. The elder, retired woman had asking for his aid last night and he had been unable to refuse. A rushing, oppressive need to gain her favor had made him uncomfortable to the point of pain to refuse her.

So the Akalak had spent the majority of the night toiling his way through her garden. With only a vague notion of how to weed and care for a garden, he had been the victim of a few panic attacks throughout the night. That in itself was a new and horrible experience for him. When the sun had come up, Vypec felt that he had done as much as he could in the garden. The tired warrior had fled down to the beach, covered in dirt and dressed in only his trousers and linen undershirt. As he lazily wandered down the beach with a hand resting on the pommel of his sword, Vypec rubbed at his eyes.

Dark bags contrasted with pale blue eyes. Vypec felt acutely susceptible to the brightness of the sun, squinting at the water. He enjoyed the cool feeling of the wet sand between his toes, though. The Akalak focused on the debris around him. He wondered vaguely what had happened and how much blood Laviku had taken as his toll. No matter how proud one was, upon the sea they were nothing to the power of the God of the Sea. Vypec was drawn from his survey of the debris by the sound of...chickens?

It was definitely clucking. Vypec rubbed a congested nose as he turned to investigate. A gaggle of hens dressed in sweaters was making it's way down the beach behind a bearded man dressed in pants and a dark shirt... No, not a shirt. Vypec squinted at the odd procession and found tat the man was shirtless, but covered in body ink. Vypec saw that he was human, most likely Drykas. Vypec frowned as he watched the unique procession make their way down the beach, the man feeding the hens and the hens clucking appreciatively.

Vypec coughed. He felt a slight burning in his throat. Wonderful, staying up all night in the cool Spring air had cost him his health. Vypec felt a sudden urge to run from the man, not wanting to be drawn into the bizarre need to please yet another stranger. But the Akalak was not strong enough to resist. Instead he waved and closed the distance between them.

"Hello. What brings you and your...hens, to the beach today?" Vypec asked, eyeing the animals. He was trying to keep bewilderment out of his expression, lest he offend this odd individual or his ladies. Vypec turned his attention back to the sea. "Looks like Laviku took his blood tax on some poor souls. I wonder who paid the price." Vypec felt his eyes drawn to the hens, their bright sweaters clashing wildly with their mundane feathers.

Why was this man walking his chickens here on the beach? Why were they wearing clothes? Vypec thought that though this was one of the oddest thingshe had seen in recent memory, it went along with the atomsphere of the city over the recent year. Oddity and extreme was now the norm within Riverfall. Perhaps this man was experiencing some of that residual oddity as well.

by **Wikus** on March 10th, 2016, 3:36 am

Wikus’ absentminded task came to an abrupt end as the deep purple flesh of the gigantic Akalak shined brightly in the white beach, almost as if the Akalak was glowing with its own light. That was, of course, nothing good in the eyes of the ousted Drykas, whom immediately frowned as Akalak were never quite pleasant in his eyes. They were big, they were uneducated and they were rude. Usually, at least. This peculiar individual didn’t seem as unwelcoming as the rest of his colored race, which made Wikus suspicious as it could be a trap. Surely he wanted to claim his hens for himself, or even his flowers. Squinting at the almost-glowing individual, he instead took another handful of feed and spread it across the sand for his lovelies to peck between the grains of sand. He approached now, frown in his features and the usual seriousness that followed him around. The closer he got, the more he realized this Akalak was taller than him, which was quite a feat already. If things got complicated between them, he’d have the advantage in wrestling which would be nice for a chance. Halting ten feet away, Wikus would go silent for a tick.

“Who Laviku?” He spoke, loud and clear despite the obvious accent that butchered his inflections. Raising his brow in a rather condescending manner, he’d lean to the side to see past the Akalak’s wide frame. All of them were so bulky it seemed they ate the cliff’s rocks instead of a normal meal. Compared to his light and somewhat lacking frame, the purple being seemed like a walking door considering the width of his shoulders. Bigger strength, but also a bigger target. If Wikus was to unroll his whip from his hip it would be unlikely that he missed. For the moment, however, there didn’t seem to be an urge for such actions. Slowly starting to walk sideways to circle around the Akalak, his hens followed him eagerly. The debris that scattered in the shallow waters had him intrigued, as it all seemed untouched by anyone else – and for the moment, there was anyone else in this beach salve them. Wikus didn’t care for money, as in the wilderness it wouldn’t have a use, yet supplies were always welcome. A vulture lasted longer than a raccoon, after all. Then, there was the possibility of the Akalak being here to guard it all, which would be a problem. “What happening here?”

His loved ones began pecking at his bare feet in demands of more feed, quickly throwing two handfuls of feed, tossing them as far as he could for his loved ones to distract themselves – as he was not going to witness how they glared towards the Akalak. Wikus was far too jealous to let his loved ones look at another men that wasn’t him. He was all they needed. “Want to look for use objects?” Pause. “We split.” He added a tick afterwards, wishing to avoid any sort of conflict if it was possible. Without waiting for an answer, Wikus began his slow pace again, circling around the male as he obviously wanted to reach the edge of the waters in hopes of finding something. There were, however, two big issues with that plan. The first one was his fear of water, which was even intensified as the Sea wasn’t anything compared to the marshes of the Sea of Grass. The marshes made him very nervous, yet the big blue ocean was simply terrifying as it had no limit no matter how far his gaze stretched into the horizon. Stepping even in the border of the water could mean slipping, falling in the water, and the waves that came and went would surely kidnap him away from the shore.

The second issue were the multiple crabs that roamed the beach. Terrifying little creatures that moved sideways and had terrifying pincers, surely capable of shattering not only skin and flesh but also entire bones if given the chance. His peripheral vision kept track of them, afraid they were going to reunite into a gang to hunt him down, to eviscerate his existence and then drag him into the ocean without letting him even whine in protest. In the middle of his delusional and phobia-induced meditation, something poked his foot. Was it one of his lovelies? Wikus looked down to spot a tiny, puny crab that was didn’t even have two inches in diameter. Those sharp claws of it were trying to crawl up his foot – it was happening already.

Horrified, Wikus whined loudly as he shook his leg violently, bringing his knees high as if he was warming up and moving away from the small crustacean in horror, his eyes finding more of them around in each location he hoped to, the fear bringing up some words from him. “Kill it! Kill it!” Pressing a hand against his basket to avoid his flowers from falling and scattering on the beach, his lovely hens apparently heard him as they too rushed towards Wikus, whom found even bigger crabs the more he approached the debris in his panicked state. Despite his size and the usual intimidating presence he believed he had, Wikus was seemingly pretty weak as he jumped around the pearly white beach trying to escape the crabs.

WIKUS

Thanks to Kiva for this amazing template.

by **Vypec** on March 13th, 2016, 11:28 pm

Vypec watched in bemused amusement as the odd human hopped from foot to foot, reacting fearfully to the crabs that waddled around the beachhead. The man was acting quite oddly and Vypec found himself wondering how he had survived in Riverfall so far. Vypec felt the familiar urge to help when the human squealed "Kill it! Kill it!" The man was referring to the closest crab. It was crawling close to his foot, it's tiny pincers held wide. Vypec frowned, the crab would mess his blade! But the urge was too strong to resist.

The Akalak lunged, drawing his gladius as he moved. The blade sang as it escaped leather and again as it sank into the crab's back and the sand. Vypec ceased to move just as suddenly as he had begun, his sword embedded in the sand only a few inches from Wikus' foot. He growled as he stood and pulled the blade free of the beach, crab still twitching on it. He held it up between them. "Look. Blade will need sharpen now." He said matter-of-factly, scowling at Wikus over the twitching form of the crab. He flicked his sword towards the ocean. The crab flew from it, sending bit of crab guts all over both of them and the chickens. "For Laviku to feast." Vypec said as he used his pant leg to clean the blade. He sheathed it and scowled at Wikus one more time.

The Akalak unfastened his belt and dropped it on the beach, along with the sword. He unsheathed the Lakan and held it loosely in his hand. Wagging the traditional Akalak weapon at Wikus he said, "I will help you." His words were tired and without gusto, but he proceeded to wade his way into the water. Vypec was nervous, he was not skilled at swimming and would not be able to move past his shoulders safely. The debris was thicker in the shallow water of the Suvan than on the beach. Vypec saw a tattered bit of canvas floating near his knees as he walked, a sail perhaps. It seemed to be a similar cloth to the type he saw waving above the ships in Port.

"What's happening?" Vypec shrugged. "Death happened. This is just... trash." The Akalak spoke around the Lakan. He could not find the right word. His common was limited, after all. The Algranos household had always been a deeply traditional one, and their tutelage in anything other than Tukant was limited. The Akalak glanced back at the Drykas to see if the horseman was following him into the water.

Vypec set the Lakan between his teeth and started to roll up the canvas cloth. He wrapped his arms around it and bundled it between two vice grips. Then he waved it above his head and said "You want sailcloth?" He mumbled again from behind the Lakan. He chucked it onto the beach where it landed with a soft thump. Vypec turned back to the wide ocean, glancing around at the surface of the water as it lapped against his purple skin. He wiggled his toes in the sand, feeling the graininess of it rubbing between them. The Akalak though on how odd a morning this was turning into. He hadn't slept, and now he was knee deep in the Suvan helping an insane stranger look for treasure in a shipwreck.

Vypec could see driftwood and hemp rope. He didn't know what counted as useful for the crazed chicken man, but none of this was useful to him. Vypec rolled the rope up and it soon joined the sail on the beach. The Akalak was knocked over by a rogue wave, his body splashing wildly as he landed on his rump. His mind went immediately to keeping the Lakan from the water. He pulled it from his mouth and held it aloft as he struggled to his feet again. He tasted salt as he swallowed a bit of the Suvan. The Akalak sighed and turned to gaze malevolently at the man again.

by **Wikus** on March 18th, 2016, 12:35 am

Wikus recovered his calm, now that the bum in shining blue skin had dug deep into the carcass of the crab that threatened his life. Panting lightly due to the scare, looking around his perimeter for any other possible crabs there were trying to sneak on him. His lovelies were already on his feet, clucking loudly as they awaited more feed that Wikus didn’t doubt to provide, scattering it around so they were busy for a while. Looking over at the Akalak, Wikus’ distrust of the purple-born manifested once more within him. Thankfully, this individual was seemingly somewhat more decent than his cousins, for he had come to the rescue without a doubt. He had to be either too young, too kind or simply too dumb. It would take a while for Wikus to figure out the answer, yet he was clearly leaning for the third option – for it was the one he chose to brand all of those blue brethren. For the moment, he limited himself on watching the blue man working on cleaning the thrash from the wreck. “I take cloth, yes.” The sailcloth could be useful, after all. Nothing would be wasted as long as it was retrieved from the water.

The Akalak was apparently quite angered towards Wikus for some reason, surely because of that dumb blade he was carrying around. Wikus had seen that blade many, many times these last two seasons, and now he knew it was called a ‘Lakan’. While he had heard the word before, he always associated it with the Akalak’s manhoods as that was apparently the only thing they cared about. ‘Look at my Lakan!’ or ‘I’m so good with my Lakan’ were examples of the phrases he had heard in taverns while the blue boars tried to courtship females. Other examples include disturbing phrases like ‘This is my father’s Lakan’ or ‘My brother sometimes plays with my Lakan as he still doesn’t have his!’ which were perhaps some of Wikus’ motives to dislike this colored race. However it may be, now the situation was a bit clearer. Looking around the debris, Wikus tried to guess where they could find something that wasn’t just cloth and splinters of wood. Although his experience with ships was none, logic told him that whatever valuables they carried would be obviously inside the ship rather than left for the weather to punish. Logic also told him that he’d have to enter the waters to scout around for anything of use, and thus his fear was ignited again.

Leaving his basket on one of the pieces of wood that were scattered on the beach, far away from the reach of the chickens, he’d sigh before calling for the Akalak. “Come, you. We go in water and look for items. Maybe something we sell.” Pause, in which Wikus would ponder if to confess his secret to the Akalak. Time was of the essence, for it wouldn’t be long before someone else heard or saw the shipwreck, and maybe the city guards would come and drive the individuals away. “Come help me not fall in water. I no like water.” And so, he confessed, although not quite stating that the thought of getting wet was as scary to him as a blade running through his chest. This Akalak was clearly taller than him, and by the looks of his build he looked like he’s been bending steel beams since birth. “Maybe carry me on your shoulders? You walk inside water and gain strength in leg, and I look from top for things in water. Water clear so easy to see.” Wikus was a genius, an unsung hero for his own cause. With the presentation of his rather logical argument, he may have a chance of convincing this obviously mentally underdeveloped boar of carrying him on his shoulders, and thus avoiding the waters.

“We find something, we split and I pay for sharp blade. You then go home and nobody know you helped me or carry on shoulders. You and I big men, tall. I see a lot. Nobody on beach so nobody now so we must hurry. Deal?” Hoping for the best, Wikus would approach the male and, once he was close enough, he pointed towards the big remains of the ship. “I speak truth. You and I, great team. Spot creatures and crabs and I guide you to avoid. Let’s do.” Wikus’ face was as plain and serious as usual, and if he was jesting or not that’d be up for the Akalak to decide. “Later I buy food for you too.” He’d add, trying to sweeten the deal.

WIKUS

Thanks to Kiva for this amazing template.

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