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+--- Thread: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] (/showthread.php?tid=8162)
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Twinflame - 09-13-2014
"Rest? I've been resting... not sleeping, of course..." K'ile grumbled, looking grumpy where he stood. He flinched when Xha'li spoke, as if the man's words hurt his ears, and gestured grandly. "Yeah, sure, do whatever. Just don't break anything and I'm sure it's... Y'know what?" He gave Xha'li a look. "Yeah, go watch the ceremony. Learn it, respect it, and then find me after. You and me have a lot of food to cook for the feast tonight." He turned to K'tahja, who was walking away from him and called, "Hey, Tahj, you want to help out after, too?"
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Xha'li Moui - 09-13-2014
Xha'li nods before grinning sheepishly and saying "Cook? Me? That might not be the best idea...I'm more liable to set my tail on fire then anything else." With a shrug he turns towards K'ile more fully and awkwardly scratches the back of his head, "I guess I could help a bit with the prep, so long as I stay away from the actual cooking part. And no need to worry, I'll stay out of the way and observe during the ceremony keeping my questions to bug you with later Uncle."
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Nauta Lyehga - 09-21-2014
K'luha looked to Rin, an outsider coming to the ceremony? Well, he was family. She was sure it would be fine. Especially if they were all together. She glanced down to Tahj, smiling faintly. She nodded in agreement, shuffling them all closer towards the center of camp where the huntresses had gathered. K'luha cast a concerned glance back to K'ile, biting at her bottom lip.
"No." She answered for Tahj abruptly, furrowing her brows. "She'll be with me.... we have the tent to finish setting up and some furs to sew." K'luha pushed Tahj's shoulder to push her lightly in front of K'luha. She glanced forward again and gripped Tahj's shoulder lightly. "We can talk about if you want to go later Tahj, but for now, please just go with me..."
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Izmina - 09-21-2014
K'tahjha's ears droop slightly in response to K'ile's question and she hesitates. Cooking? She opens her mouth to answer but snaps it shut abruptly as K'luha speaks up. Tahj puzzles at her aunt's tone of voice but smiles up at her gratefully. If there was one task she was sure to fail at it was cooking. She obediently moves ahead of Luha and continues toward the  gathering of huntresses, eager to see the ceremony.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Twinflame - 09-21-2014
Why was everyone being so weird? At least Xha'li had his feet on the ground. It was just cooking. Even K'luha could've helped with that if she didn't look two steps from dead. Still, she did take comfort from others when she needed it, and it seemed she was taking K'tahjha.
"Eh, fine, fine." K'ile turned to walk past Xha'li, heading towards a different part of the camp. "Thanks. We'll need more help. Maybe I'll ask K'yohko to help me cook, eh?" He laughed at the joke, but his laughing hurt the base of his ears, so he stopped.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Xha'li Moui - 09-22-2014
Xha'li nods at K'ile before patting Rin on his neck, "Go on boy, I'm not going to be getting into any trouble in camp, just keep an eye on our chick ya?"Â Grinning as Rin preens his hair quickly before urging Fubuki away Li goes off himself, heading towards the center of the camp and the gathering of elders and huntresses to find himself an out of the way spot where he can have a good view to see and hear what happens.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Naunet - 09-23-2014
The soil beneath K'deiki's feet felt different as she shuffled towards the skeleton of the tribe's bonfire, a tower of tinder and wood designated family members had spent several hours gathering and arranging. It crackled with a rigidness beneath her wrapped toes that the Sagolii dunes had never possessed, and when she closed her aged eyes, she felt the breathing of foreign spirits beneath its surface. It would take time to grow familiar with them, to know how to live alongside their new neighbors and how to seek their help and guidance. Luckily the elders carried great patience between them, even if the same could not be said for some of their younger family.
As she approached the unlit bonfire, K'deiki withdrew her arms from the colorful wrappings shrouding her form to reveal a hefty bundle of short and long-stemmed herbs and grasses. Artifacts from Sagolii side-by-side with findings from their new home, a symbolic mingling of different natures unified by spirituality. She caught K'jhanhi's scent nearby and turned a weary smile towards his blurred silhouette. He stood to one side of the bonfire, leaning on a tall staff crested with feathers, bones, and woven braids of earthy fiber, which all clattered musically whenever he shifted.
"We begin," she said both to him and the other miqo'te she knew by scent who milled close by, and bent to tuck the bundle of herbs into the base of the bonfire. Their hunters were eager to be on the move, to begin learning the lay of the land and enjoy the thrill of such a new hunt, but first there was ritual. Standing back from the bonfire's frame, K'deiki lifted near-sightless eyes skyward and called out in a voice that carried further than her fragile frame would seem capable, "Azeyma, our Warden, has guided us to newfound security and prosperity. Let us now express our gratitude and prove our ability to make good on Her endless gifts."
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Xha'li Moui - 09-23-2014
Watching the ceremony Xha'li leaned back on his hands and gently reached out with his aether as he'd learned under Hearer Kinzie, trying to get a better feel for the mood of the local elementals in the still air around the campfire. With a relaxed sigh he grinned slightly as he felt a small breeze ruffle his hair before dissipating, it seemed the local elementals were around and paying attention to his father's tribe but had yet to form any opinion on them. As the elder finished speaking Xha'li bowed his head slightly and spoke in a soft voice, "Watch over Menphina as they sleep, keep them safe so they might greet Azeyma when She rises once more."
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Izmina - 09-23-2014
The excitement K'tahjha felt for the upcoming ceremony died as if someone had doused a fire with water. Spotting the elder stuffing ritual items in the massive pile of wood, Tahj's heart jumps jumped into her throat. Her ears flatten to her head and her tail tucks between her legs. Why now? Things had gone so long without anyone in the tribe learning of her fear of fire. Her feet felt like lead and refused to carry her any farther and she shoots an imploring look to her aunt.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Twinflame - 09-25-2014
K'ile came at the gathering from a completely different side than K'tahjha and Xha'li did. He watched K'deiki absently as he filed himself in among the huntresses, looking at their faces but giving his full attention to a pair of pink ears which he approached. Touching K'mih lightly on the shoulder, he leaned down towards her to whisper beneath the ceremony, "Hey, you're the firedancer now. Come on. I need to teach you something real quick." He gestured towards the area behind the crowd.
Among the Elders, K'takka moved her weary body boldly up to the edge of the piled firewood. It had been so long since they had been able to easily build such a fire. On a whim, everything assembled and ready to burn. She shook the string of bright stones on her wrist, and her fingers shook with age in response to the slight movement. The dryness of the wood was palpable. She could smell it. Her silver eyes could see it in the grains. She could predict the lines the fire would take depending on where it would light.
K'takka took bones from her robe, thin, brittle shapes plucked from the Sagolii. The were the bones of clean birds, the kinds who built high nest and cared for their young, who did battle with the buzzards and the hawks to protect their homes. Rare birds in the Sagolii, but she'd seen more of them in this place. Good omens. "We offer all that remains of the bounty of the past, to honor the bounty of the future." K'takka proclaimed as she placed the bones along the grain of the wood. She continued placing the bones, her baggy clothes swaying about her thin frame. Unlike K'jhani, K'takka was decorated in gemestones and cold, wearing purples and blue obtained from Ul'dahn traders in days past.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Naunet - 09-27-2014
K'deiki smiled at her Sister's voice, at the sacred words the old woman spoke. Soon perhaps they would be able to commit new sacrifices to the flame, but it felt right to greet this place with gifts of their ancestry for now.
"As we set light to these flames, we pray not only for our own prosperity, but for the health and well-being of the land we've come to sleep upon, of the creatures we've come to run alongside, and of the water that brings us all hope and life." Frail arms lifted, palms turned upward to the darkening sky. "We pray for good winds and for Azeyma's gaze to reach far on our hunts, and what bounty we find, we will return twice over, ever grateful for our existence."
She sensed movement next to her, K'jhanhi straightening next to the bonfire's frame. The staff he held clattered as he lifted it and shook the decorations braided along its length. Then he brought it down against the ground, and for a moment the sound it made was like a thousand rain drops. He lifted it and let it fall again, and the sound recurred. In silence he continued this steady rhythm, an echo of the heartbeat of the land they gave their lives to and of the Warden's heart that pulsed unseen far above them. It was the signal to begin the flames.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Xha'li Moui - 09-27-2014
Xha'li shifted in his seat as the male elder began to beat his staff into the ground. Turning his attention outwards he paused as he realized that the tempo of his staff striking the ground matched the pulsing of the aether around them, or perhaps he mused softly the pulsing of the aether matched the tempo of his staff. Rising he brushed the sand off him and moved to stand amongst and behind the bulk of the tribe with a grin he turned and bowed his head to Menphina as she rose above horizon before returning his attention towards the ceremony taking place before him.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Clover - 09-28-2014
Standing among all the huntresses, K'mih's head had risen to look at the elder as this one spoke. She heard the words and watched the fire, but her mind was with neither of them. Troubled thoughts were reflected in her eyes as they burnt with the reflection of the flames, until the brief touch of a hand over her shoulder put an end to her trance. She blinked. Before she could even turn to see who was trying to catch her attention, a male voice rang close to her ears.
She didn't know if the shiver that ran down her spine was due to the proximity or the reminder that she was the firedancer. Slowly, she finally turned to look at the Tia, all doubts and worries and submissive silence in her lowered head. Her eyes, however, looked at him as she followed.
It wasn't a moment to think about K'nahli. She needed to stop wondering.
[...]
Armed with his spear, K'rahto's serious and focused gaze remained glued to the fire. His eyes only danced briefly to the side, to a far away figure he could still recognize among thousands. K'nahli's position was never unknown to him, even when he feigned not to pay attention.
He'd be a hunter today, he'd try to be the best. But today, too, he'd continue being a Tia.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Twinflame - 09-28-2014
K'ile lead K'mih away from the other huntresses, out to the perimeter of the gathering. Â He whispered, "Sorry, but you're part of the ritual from now on. It's important." He produced two narrow shafts of wood, each about half the length of a spear. He placed on across K'mih's palm and wrapped her fingers around it, his hand warm and calloused on her thin fingers. K'ile's gaze was neutral, but his twitching ears, low against his hair, revealed a certain tenseness of emotion. "Give the staff a flick. Start the movement in your chest and let it roll down your should into your hand lake a shaken rope. Imagine the bead as flint sparking the tinder in your hand. The fire will flow to either end of the stick." K'ile, holding the other stick, imitated the gesture he had just described. He wore no beads, however, so the short staff he held did not light.
RE: Heinous Omens [K-Tribe] - Clover - 09-30-2014
K'mih's eyes fell on the small wooden staff that K'ile placed on her palm. She looked at his hand as his fingers touched hers briefly; bigger, stronger than hers. The hands of a male, one who could become her Nunh someday. The girl tensed slightly more at the mere thought. Looking at her uncle had become difficult, but she managed to raise her eyes and try to observe his movements. The ritual was important. She needed to empty her mind of anything else for now.
With a more focused albeit not any less nervous gaze, K'mih paid attention to what K'ile did. Then, she tried to imitate the same gesture. Not even knowing what would happen could prepare her for the shock of the sudden fire.
"Ah!"
When her stick ignited magically, her first and unavoidable impulse was to throw it out of fear. It only took her half a second to realize her own failure, but it was too late already; the fire staff was in the air, about to fall down onto the not so dry terrain.