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Post by Nayunva on May 25, 2011 15:41:56 GMT -5
Nayunva rolled her eyes and smiled at his clear underscoring of how much danger he had been in. He pulled his leg free of the Taiolang, and mentioned getting the thing back. She flicked her ears. That thought hadn't even occurred to her until just now. Normally, there were many more hunters, and transportation was made easier. They did not have the kind of tools that could be used to cut the creature and deliver it back in pieces. This could be quite a dilemma.
"I hadn't thought of that either." She admitted. She took a few steps away from the taiolang and placed her hands on her hips as she examined the beast. It was huge. She made a mental note to consider how to take a kill back in the future.
She supposed that one of them could go back to the clan and request assistance. But that would take quite a while. And being alone next to a kill of this size for a while would only attract predators.
Nayunva glanced over to Atxkxell as she thought, and noticed that he was now holding his bleeding arm. "Do you want me to look at that?" She asked him, gesturing to his arm as she did.
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Post by fuzzydude on May 25, 2011 16:36:09 GMT -5
"It's nothing," he reassured her, though it was more of a token protest. The grin he gave her was more gritted teeth than smile. He moved his hand away, uncovering the wound to look at it closer himself. A slight wince got past him as the air caused the entire injury to sting sharply. The broken branch had gone fairly deep and it hadn't been the cleanest injury. It was still bleeding.
"We'll probably need help with this," he mused, looking back at the taiolang. "You'd move faster than me right now and if you came back on pa'li, it would not take too long. I think all the noise probably will keep other animals away for a little while at least, and I can easily stay and watch the kill," he suggested. They most certainly were not going to simply leave the taiolang here, after all! Besides being an inexcusable and offensive waste, there was no way they were going to simply forget about their kill after all they'd gone through!
OOC: Hmm... unless you have anything particular planned, I'm thinking this thread may be winding down. If you don't have anything else left that you'd like to do, perhaps we can just begin getting Atxkxell patched up, do any closing remarks, and then just cut to their home for a quick wrap up post from each of us since this lets us skip all the logistics of moving a dead corpse around, which nobody really wants to read (or write) about.
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Post by Nayunva on May 27, 2011 11:47:59 GMT -5
ooc: Agreed. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. The past few days have been a little crazy. Graduation and graduation parties. My posting may continue to be slow for the next two days, but I'll definitely try to reply at least once a day.
ic: His attempt at reassuring her was made pointless when Nayunva noticed him flinch when the air hit the wound. She moved to his other side and got a better look at the wound for herself. It was deep and jagged. Not so deep that one of the healers may have to use a bone and thread on him, but pretty deep. The nature of the wound meant that it would keep bleeding for a while longer unless stopped. It had to be cleaned before she could really do anything with it. Luckily, they weren't far from a river.
He voiced them needing help, and suggested she go back and return on Pa'li. It made sense, and she nodded in agreement. "Alright. But I'm not going to leave until we at least have this looking a little better." Although the sound would keep the other creatures away, she didn't like the idea of leaving Atxkxell her to fend for himself with a gash in his arm.
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Post by fuzzydude on May 27, 2011 12:06:27 GMT -5
OOC: It's alright! There's never a rush and I'll be gone the next few days, too, actually. And congratulations on graduation!!! (I almost said "congratulations on the gratulation" ). BIC: Atxkxell stood there, feeling slightly awkward, and just a bit embarrassed as she looked over his arm. Not that he minded, of course. Actually, maybe he should have gotten hurt more often, he joked to himself. "See, it's nothing much," he said, smiling slightly as she looked the wound over carefully. Despite that, she was soon leading him to the nearby river which was now eerily silent save for the echos of the few sounds of dripping water and rustling leaves, or their own footsteps. The angtsìk could be seen wandering off in the distance, having decided the threat was over now and their defensive circle was no longer necessary. The place really was beautiful. It was too bad it was usually such a dangerous place. "So, will I survive my mortal wound gained through heroic deeds?" he asked with a playful grin.
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Post by Nayunva on May 29, 2011 21:02:49 GMT -5
As she led him to the waters edge, she knelt next to it as he questioned whether or not he would survive the wound. She smiled at the playfulness in his voice. "I think you'll make it." She replied with a smile. "But I don't know about your head. If it gets any bigger, we could have a problem." She teased him lightly, remarking on his ego. "This may sting just a little." She warned him as she cupped water in her hand and splashed it on the wound.
Normally, water wouldn't really bother a cut or scrape much. But the depth of the wound was probably going to make the water hurt a lot. Not to mention that the wound was jagged, which meant that when the water washed over it, it might tug at the edges of the wound.
She rinsed the water over until she was satisfied, before snatching up a wide-bladed reed and quickly wrapped it over the wound. She didn't have the right mixture of herbs to treat the wound here, but once he returned to the village, a healer would be able to patch him up. For now, the plant would stem the flow of the blood a little. To hold the leaf in place, she took one of the leather strings she kept wrapped multiple times around her arm as decoration and used it to keep the leaf in place on Atxkxell's arm. "There." Nayunva said with finality, quite pleased with her work. Out in the field, with none of her traditional tools. She felt she had done pretty well. "And now you'll have a healing wound as proof of your heroic deeds."
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Post by fuzzydude on Jun 1, 2011 12:03:28 GMT -5
At least Atxkxell wasn't so big headed as to not flush just a little at her teasing. Thankfully, it didn't last long.
He held still for her as she cleaned his wound. The water stung sharply, especially at first, and he was glad for her warning. Save for a jump of his tail, he managed to keep from showing too much reaction to the pain.
"There," Nayunva said with satisfaction. "And now you'll have a healing wound as proof of your heroic deeds."
"Excellent," Atxkxell said, pleased. ___________________
"Then, like roaring thunder, the entire herd of taiolangs charged! And there I was, alone, holding my ground in front of them while they crashed down like an avalanche and the ground itself shook as if the jungle itself was cowering like a frightened child. Closer they came, and closer, and still I remained, bow ready..."
Atxkxell thumped dramatically on the ground with his uninjured arm, imitating a loud stampede.
It had taken some effort to get the kill back home and, now, everybody knew about it. It was practically impossible not to after all the commotion of a small band lead by two proud hunters came back dragging an entire freshly killed taiolang. Taiolang hunts were large events for the clan and everybody knew none had been planned. It had quickly become the talk of the entire clan and everybody was eager to hear for themselves what had happened.
Atxkxell had managed to keep quiet about it long enough to build some suspense while he had his arm tended to, but afterwards, had been unable to keep silent and happily told the story to everyone who would hear. For once, everyone was just as eager to hear his story as he was to tell it. The group around him was staring at him, hanging on to every word.
"They were nearly on top of me! Then... tssssk, tssssk, tsssk!" He mimed shooting several arrows.
"The arrows flew through the air like lightning guided by Eywa herself! But they did not come from me. Nayunva struck the herd with such power it sent them fleeing in terror!" He paused for effect. This was clearly no small feat, and everyone knew it. But he had more, and everyone could tell. They were waiting for it.
"All save one. The largest, most fierce roared and crashed into the tree I was in, nearly tearing it entirely from the ground! I leaped on top of it, trying to hold it down, but it was too large and strong. It threw me to one side and began crushing me between it and a great tree. All seemed lost."
He was clearly enjoying the telling and all eyes were on him.
"But," he said, beginning at nearly a whisper. "Nayunva had not been idly watching. She had been waiting for the right moment, and it had come. Right then, she leaped down from her own tree, charging the taiolang with the ferocity and courage of a palulukan! Fearless, she leaped forward and shot the beast right through the eye. But it was strong and still stood. It charged, swinging at her. She leaped to one side, a leaf in the wind, smoke in the night, and no matter what the great creature tried, she was too fast, too fierce, too strong! And too patient, for she was also waiting and watching once more for her opening. When it came, she felled it with a single arrow."
He tapped the place along his own spine where the breathing hole of the taiolang would be.
"So powerful and so sure was her arrow the taiolang was knocked clear off its feet! And when the dust cleared, nothing was left but her standing over the taiolang like a hunter out of legend."
He could see the listeners eyes wide, for even without the exaggerations, the story was unbelievable. Yet, everyone had seen the evidence with their own eyes when it was brought back to them and Atxkxell himself was here, telling the story of another Na'vi instead of himself.
"I helped, of course," he added with his classic grin and jabbing a finger at his chest. "Couldn't have done it without me."
Impressed or not, he still had a reputation to maintain! Besides, he'd end up giving all the elders heart attacks if today was not only the day Na'vi had hunted taiolang by themselves on foot, but the day Atxkxell's impossibly large ego shrank.
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Post by Nayunva on Jun 5, 2011 8:32:17 GMT -5
Atxkxell told the story of their hunt, making sure to tell it with all of the drama and suspense that had actually occurred during the hunt. He did not exaggerate, however. And, really, it wasn't like he needed to exaggerate a story like that. Today had been truly remarkable, and Nayunva had been surprised that neither of them had suffered serious injuries.
It had taken them a while to get the taiolang back the the clan. And it had taken many hunters. the thing was so considerable in size, the clan would be well fed for a while.
As he finished the story, Nayunva could feel her face flush, but she did her best to overcome it. "But Atxkxell was the one that came up with the plan. I wouldn't have known how to hunt the taiolang on foot if he hadn't first come up with the plan."
Nayunva tried to ignore all of the stares of admiration coming from her peers. While it was appreciated, she was not used to so many eyes on her at once. She supposed that this was probably how the Tsahik felt all the time.
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