font credit from fontmeme.comNumber of People: total: 014 | male: 007 | female: 007 | other: 000
Number of Animals: total: 000 | male: 000 | female: 000 | other: 000
Yemons: 50
Next Visit to Ancestors: next sunday
Please no deaths atm!
I've accomplished something!
Achievement(s) You've Accomplished: enemy of mine enemy (first ally)
Total Prizes: x1 random item
I wish to adopt!
Code of Child: 001 ► ST - E6 / HS - HC / HC - 63 / EC - A6 / X / human / 3 years
Name of Child: Hazel
Finnegan placed one foot after another in the thick powdery snow. It crunches ever so slightly, but other than that, the slight creak of his bowstring and the squwawk of his prey, it was silent. The arrow whistled through the air quiet like a cat's footsteps, and hits the chicken in the neck. It died instantly. Finnegan picked up the chicken proudly by its featherless legs, and slung his bow over his shoulder.
Walking over to where Rose had a small male elk. She slung it over her shoulders. Finnegan offered to help, but allshe did was snap at him. They walked the rest of the way in silence, and once they stick their catches in the storage shack, she dissapeared somewhere.
Finnegan didn't mind though, and went over to where Merrigan was chatting with the other foragers. She laughed loudly at a joke Finnegan didn't catch, but as she spotted him approaching, she left Jasan and Maryn to their own devices.
"Hiya fin!" She called in her high, cheery voice. "Whatchya doin?" She chirped. He ahrugged.
"Not much. I see you've made friends already." He pointed out. She nodded, and looked him in the eye. He met her gaze.
"How is hunting? Rose giving you grief?" This was her way of asking if he was doing okay. He had to admit, she was the brains of the operation. She was the smart one.
"No, i'm fine." He responded, almost robotically. He could shut out Rose's bossy nature. "So, who are your friends?"
"Oh, just Jasan, Maryn, the other foragers. Have you seen the new guy? He nearly jumped out of his skin when i said hello to him earlier, and he says he's supposed to be a warrior."
"Well, i suppose you just frightened him." Finnegan reasoned with her.
"Though i must admit, i am kind of relieved not to be the newest villager."
"Well, we technically aren't the newest, dince we arrived around the same time as Cedar and Elanjar."
"True. Now, who are your friends? You do have friends, right?" She asked.
"Oh, just Ipuruak and the hunters." He said dismissively.
"Great to see you're doing well." Suddenly, finnegan heard Maryn shout something he didn't hear to Merrigan.
"What's that all about?"
"I don't know, but i have to go! Bye!" She called over her shoulder as she sprinted away.
"Bye." Finnegan said, more to himself than to his sister.
He got up and went over to where the other hunters and the warriors were hanging out. Rose and Pema were in a heated debate. As he noticed Pema's hands curl into fists, he realized this was about to get ugly. But before that could happen, Avery seemed to materialized out of nowhere, and told the two off. Apparently Rose had been talking about Pema behind her back, and the elf heard. Then she had insulted Rose, causing the two to get into a fight. Thankfully no one actually hurt anyone but it could have gotten messy.
Finnegan left them to themselves and walked through the dissipating crowd. Everyone seemed to look right past him, and he felt left out. He decided to go hunting with Rose, because even though she was bossy, at least she noticed he existed.
Still a bit grumpy after her almost-fight with Rose, Pema went down to Ipuruak's house. Knocking at the door, she heard him say a muffled, "come in!" Pushing open the door, she saw he was examining Cedar's jaw, checking on the place where the tooth had been. But something was wrong. He looked reluctant, almost bored. He had been acting strange and nervous recently, but she'd thought it was only the stress of being a healer. "I'll be over in a moment." He said. His voice sounded exhausted and disinterested. "Alright, there you go." He told cedar, telling her that she was free to go.
"Thanks, sir!" She called as she closed the door. He packed up his stuff, and turned. When Ipuruak caught sight of Pema standing there, leaning against the wooden wall, he brightened, all signs of his previous odd behavior gone.
"Hello Ipuruak." She said. He smiled.
"Hey Pema. What brings you here? Are you sick?" He asked. She shook her head.
"No, just wanted to come say hello. How are you?" She asked.
"Everything's... Okay, i guess."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm starting to wonder. What if i'm not meant to be a healer? I felt more alive when i was hunting with you than i ever did, cooped up, hunched over herbal mixtures and old books." He sighed. "And i've been thinking, Avery can request anything he pleases from the ancestors. What if, i become a hunter, and he just, requests a replacement healer?" He looked up at her, begging for answers. She sighed, thinking hard.
"I think that only you know, what is best for you." She said finally, choosing every word carefully.
"Thanks, i'll keep that in mind. You sure you don't need a checkup?" He said jokingly. They both laughed for a bit. They sat down on the small cot beside eachother. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and kissed her gently on the forehead. His huge, jet black wings wrapped around them, and she thought of what lay in their future.
Maryn walked after Rose, who was still seething, despite having had quite a while to cool down. Morag followed too, remaining protectively at Maryn's side. The little satyr really didn't want to take sides in this fight, but she still thought that it was pretty mean to gossip. She wondered what had caused this rivalry between the two.
"Rose. Rose!" She said. The lead hunter rounded on her.
"What?" She growled.
"Why were you being so rude to Pema? Why do you two hate each other?" She confronted the older woman.
"None of your buisiness!" She snarled. "Now keep out of it!" Hurt, Maryn took a step back.
why does she have to be so mean? she thought.
i was only asking. she dashed off, her face burning, tears welling up at Rose's stinging words. Behind her, she heard Morag shouting angrily at Rose, but she kept running until she got to the woods, where she sat on a stump, and remained in silence.
Later, Morag walked up behind her. It was relatively warm for winter. Her wife didn't say a word, but merely hugged her close.
"Why is she always so rude?" Maryn asked.
"I don't know." Morag murmured, half to herself."whatever the reason, you were right, and she was wrong. She should not have yelled at you." She told Maryn.
"Really?"
"Really." The little satyr smiled, grateful to have such a caring, loving wife. "Come with me." She said, leading Maryn up a tree, where they sat, on a sturdy brach, watching the half moon in the night sky.
A few days later, Elanjar was speaking with the other villagers who were still relatively new to Westhaven, when he noticed Merrigan sitting off to the side, on a wooden bench. She looked lost in thought, her eyes had a far away glassy stare, and some small, but bright sparks danced between her finger tips. She clearly wasn't paying attention to the others sitting nearby, discussing Westhaven and its many customs. He slipped away from the conversation unnoticed, and approached. She startled slightly when he sat down beside her.
"Hey Merrigan, something wrong?" He said. She chuckled slightly.
"Nothing Aegis, only watching my dimwitted brother." Sure enough, when he followed her gaze, he was surprised to see Finnegan stumbling around, muttering incoherently. He couldn't help but laugh at his antics, and Merrigan did too. They both laughed for a while, until, between laughs, Elanjar asked,
"What happened to him? Is he going crazy?"
"No," Merrigan hiccuped, "i think he's gotten in to the wine." This comment brought up more hiccuping laughter. All of a sudden, they were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"What are you two laughing at?" Elanjar rolled his eyes.
"Butt out Rose." He grumbled to himself. If she heard though, she gave no indication.
"It's Finnegan!" Merrigan chuckled as she spoke. "He must have gotten into something, because he's completely lost his marbles!" Rose rolled her eyes. Then the lead huntress stomped over, presumably to sort him out. Merrigan wiped her eyes, before standing up. "Well, i've gotta walk him home before he stumbles off a cliff or something, bye."
"Meet in the great hall tonight?"
"Sure! Bye!"
"Bye!" Elanjar called to her, but she was already out of earshot by now.
Later, just before everyone gathered to eat, Elanjar slipped into the wooden log cabin. Nearly everyone had already sat down at one of the two long wooden tables, including Merrigan. When she noticed him, she called him over. He sat down to her right. "I was starting to think you weren't coming at all, Aegis." Merrigan teased.
"Me? Miss food? Never!" He joked in response. But after that her face grew serious.
"Hey, look, there's the new guy." She said. "He's all alone. Should we invite him over?" Merrigan asked. Elanjar simply shrugged. She called him over and the centaur walked over, hooves clacking on the floor. At first he didn't understand how he would be able to sit on the long benches, but he was worried for no reason. He didn't sit down at all, he merely stood. For some reason, Elanjar got a weird feeling when he sat beside Merrigan, but he dismissed it as him just being hungry. They all introduced themselves, and the centaur, whose name was Arlen, though very nervous, was actually quite interesting to talk to. They spoke until it was finally time for Avery to introduce Arlen. It went by quick. After that, Merrigan, with some assistance from Jasan who was sitting nearby, introduced everyone else there. Other than that and small bits of failed conversation starters, they ate what Elanjar thought was chicken and pumpkin, in silence. After this awkward dinner was done, everyone left. Elanjar, for one, was exhausted.
Nearly a week later, Saban was training Cedar in sword fighting and other types of melee combat, when he noticed Arlen, the newest addition to Westhaven's growing numbers, watching. He had always been skeptical of his nervous demeanor. He was skulking around the edges of the place where they trained. The ground here was dusty and worn, and no grass grew. Tree leaned overhead, their leaves close enough together to give them shade, but far enough apart to give them light.
"I'll be right back, keep practicing!" He told Cedar and left her to train on her own and walked over to Arlen. "Hey, Arlen was it? I noticed you watching us train," he said, a sarcastic edge to his voice. "If you wanted to come patrol with me and Cedar."
The centaur brightened and nodded. "I'd love too!" He said happily. He had a bow slung over his shoulder. Saban wondered why this warrior carried a hunter's weapon. Suddenly Cedar appeared at Saban's side, and voiced the kitsune's thoughts.
"What's with the bow?" She asked him. He grinned sheepishly, and Saban noticed Arlen's face redden.
"It's a traditional centaur weapon." The man said sheepishly. Saban merely shrugged, and they set out.
They walked in silence, alert for a sign of anything. Cedar mustn't have been paying attention, because she tripped over a tree root. Saban felt a rush of fatherly protectiveness, and offered her a hand up. Cedar smiled gratefully and Saban grinned in response as if to say,
no problem. They were soon brought back to the present by the heavy clicking of hooves on the stony ridge where they stood.
"You guys might want to take a look at this." Arlen said, looking slightly shocked.
For good reason. As Saban and Cedar followed him over to the place he had wandered off to, the sight left Saban bewildered. Looking down the ridge, they could see what appeared to be a village, not too far from Westhaven.
Jasan paced back and forth across the floor of Ipuruak's hut. The man merely followed him with his eyes, a mildly annoyed expression on his face. He felt butterflies flitting around in the pit of his stomach.
Several times he had tried to start a conversation, but it died quickly. He noticed that the healer was acting quite strange recently.
He didn't have time to dwell on it though, because right at that moment, there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Jasan offered, before rushing to get the door. It was Pema.
"Can i come in?" She asked him. He nodded and stepped aside to let her pass.
After that the three spoke and joked around a bit. Eventually though, it came to an end when Jasan made a joke that earned him a piercing glare from Pema.
"Hey, Ipuruak! With the amount of hunting you do with Pema, you're pratically a better hunter than healer!" He laughed, but stopped when they didn't join in.
Looking over, Ipuruak seemed to be taking Jasan's attempted joke quite seriously. The silence was awkward, and in an attempt to relieve the tension, Pema asked Jasan about Aja. He slapped his forehead. He had forgotten all about her! He had said he would only be gone a minute.
"Uhhh... I gotta go. See ya!" He said and dashed off, shutting the door behind him.
"There you are!" Aja greeted him as he burst in.
"Yup." He said, stightly winded from the run. "Here i am!"
They spoke quietly, for a bit, until it was time for Jasan to go gathering again. He still couldn't believe he was gonna be a father.
After Jasan left, Ipuruak turned to Pema.
"He's right you know. I'd be more useful as a hunter." He told her. She rolled her eyes.
"Not this again, i told you, it's your choice."
"Besides, then i could be closer to you!" He said. Her expression softened.
"Please don't do it for me. It's your life." She warned him, her tone slightly pleading. But Ipuruak wasn't listening. His mind raced with new possibilities. He'd never been upset or discontented with being a healer, but being a hunter seemed so much more reasonable. So much more appealing. He would finally have a better use for his wings. He could track down herds of migrating caribou from high above, rather than just use them to grab herbs from the nearby forests. He could hunt pretty well too. Suddenly he was shocked back to the present by Pema calling his name.
"...Ipuruak! Ipuruak, you there? Hello?"
"Huh? Wha-yeah what is it?" He asked slightly annoyed. She rolled her eyes.
"I asked you a question. If you become a hunter, who's gonna be healer?" She sighed.
"Way ahead of you! Y'know how Avery can request a villager of any rank from the ancestors?"
"No."
"Well, that-that's not the point, don't you see? He can just ask for a replacement healer!" It all made perfect sense. To Ipuruak at least.
"Well, you still have to convince Avery to request one." Pema pointed out.
"True, but i'm sure he can be reasonable." He said.
why doesn't she get it! he wondered.
"Alright, but i still think you should take some more time to think on this." She said.
"I've made up my mind." He said firmly. Kissing her on the cheek, he dashed out the door. He needed to catch Avery. "Love you, bye!" He called over his shoulder, and with two flaps of his wings, rose into the air.
Gliding through the sky, just barely over rooftops, Ipuruak searched the ground below for Avery's familiar black cloak. Finally he spotted him, nearby the great hall, speaking with what appeared to be Morag and Maryn. Thankfully they left before he lighted on the ground.
"Avery, i need to talk to you!" He said. The chieftain turned to face him.
"Yes? What is it?" The older man asked, a slight look of concern in his eyes.
"It's about your ancestor stuff and my job." He quickly explained his dilema to Avery and how he thought he could help Westhaven better. "And, i know we need a healer, so i was thinking you could request one!" He finished. Avery looked thoughtful, considering it.
"I suppose i could. But i'm warning you, once you become a hunter, that's it, no more changing. You're sure you want this?"
"Yes." Ipuruak said firmly and nodded.
"Very well. I will ask. But you should speak to Rose about this. She is the lead huntress." And with that he ledt, leaving Ipuruak standing alone, dreading talking to Rose, who certainly wouldn't like this whole idea.
well, you want to be a hunter, you speak to the lead hunter. No matter how much of a hag she is. he told himself, and grinned. He was a hunter now!
The people of Westhaven 21+ consume 13 servings (x2 pumkins and x1 chicken; already subtracted)
The people of Westhaven 6-20 consume 0.5 servings (x0.5 rabbit; already subtracted)
Saban, Cedar and Arlen go on patrol
Ipuruak changes to a hunter (alliegance will be edited next post)
Merrigan and Maryn go foraging
Jasan goes foraging
Pema goes hunting
Rose and Finnegan go hunting
Elanjar and Morag go scouting
Aja gives birth in one post
Cedar and Saban train while on patrol
Avery requests a replacement healer
Maryn and Morag adopt from the adoption center
