by Verdana » Sat Jul 04, 2015 4:38 am
Username:
Verdana
Name:
Arjuna (meaning something that shines like silver), goes by Ari. The name comes from a Hindi god who was both male and female.
Pronouns:
Both equally. They allow each Xholi they meet to choose a pronoun. Often their dominant pronoun changes. For example, Ari is a he when he is point scout, and she was a she as an apprentice.
Personality:
Silent movie
Like a silent movie, Ari is almost entirely in grayscale. This does not make xher boring, or dull. Much like a silent movie, Ari is bot the biggest talker. Xhe is not loud or bold or overstated. Instead, xher intentions are communicated through her body language. her eyes, xher ears, xher smile and especially her bright pale tail, are all extremely expressive. Xhe can communicate in a single look what it might take another many words to say. Xhe can speak, and xhe will speak when it is needed, but xher philosophy is simple: why use words when an action might do just as well? Ari is a listener, a sympathetic nodder, a filler of space. Xher love of actions and understated presence contributes both to xher broad position as a scout (a role of watching, listening and keeping quiet) but also specifically as an ambassador moving amongst the packs. Xhe can enter spaces that an outsider would usually be denied access to, and makes positive acquaintances quickly and easily. Xher quiet affability can be endearing, and it can just as easily disarm a foe.
Role:
Scout, first wave to the West, last wave to the East.
Why:
[Short answer: His gems at the corners of his eyes aid his peripheral vision, and his Dunia power is the ability to feel what is around of him on the ground for a short range, probably a 5 metre radius at most. He feels the ground, its topography and dips, and also if anything is disturbing the earth. His bright tail is problematic in deep darkness, but the scouts send him out to chase away the dusk and bring in the dawn. In the half-light, his pelt is advantageous, as his markings mimic forest shadow and allow him to blend in. But his ambition was made possible by an older scout named Sage who took Arjuna under their paw.
Ari's good nature, gentle disposition and natural affability makes him ideal for teamwork. Arjuna is still recently promoted into his rank as Scout. He is young and still has much to learn. However, some of the older scouts are interested in having him fill an ambassadorial role. His tail makes him unsuited for extreme stealth and work in pitch blackness, and his patterning is best suited to dawn and dusk. For this reason, he might be well placed working with Dawn packs as an ambassador, representing the Dusk Dunia. His good memory and loyalty would help him to represent the aims and ideals of his pack, and his friendliness would make him a natural at moving across packs.]
Longer answer: Looking Back
"With gems like that, he'll always be looking back," Arjuna's mother once said.
"I think that's wonderful," his mama argued. "That cannot fail to be useful, no matter what she chooses to do."
But as Arjuna's apprenticeship drew nearer, he was no more settled on what he wanted to specialise in than a newborn pup was.
"I'm going to be a sentinel," his best friend Mae told him one evening.
"Why?"
"I guess I'd like to fight for my territory, and keep it safe."
"Oh."
Ari guessed that he would like to do the same, and besides, sentinels were awfully heroic. However, he did not want to be a sentinel. He was no good at staying still. Not for long, anyway. The gems at the corners of his eyes strengthened his peripheral vision. Shapes danced there, fleeting and distracting. The thought of standing still all day, watching and waiting but not investigating further, left a sour taste in the back of his throat.
Three days until apprenticeship. Ari was no closer to choosing a discipline. But, was a bit of indecision going to get in the way of some fun? Of course not! As soon as the sun had slipped away, a gaggle of prancing pups emerged from the dens, ready to play. Ari was one of them.
"I'll be on," Mae announced, ever decisive, ever a leader. Ari was not a leader, but he didn't mind much.
"One... Two..."
Arjuna ran. He was not the fastest, but he was quick, and there were few pups as fleet-footed and quiet as he was. While most of the young Xholis hid behind rocks or in the long grass, Ari headed straight for the thick undergrowth. He dove in with minimal rustling, and with even less disturbance he slunk through roots and branches and crunching leaves, to sink deep into the nest of woody tendrils. And wait.
And wait.
This was always the hardest part for Ari, the waiting. He wanted to giggle, or shift, or make it harder.
'I am here!' he wanted to shout. When he was younger, he had. He had barked and barked, minutes into the game. Anything to make the suspense end. But now, days away from becoming an apprentice, he knew better. Ari lay very still, only the tip of his tail twitching, and waited for Mae, the seeker, to come to him.
He felt it just as Mae ran breathlessly past, calling out,
"Hello? Hello! Come out, come out!"
He didn't budge. She hadn't spotted him. But something else had. A prickling suspicion raised his hackles. Something was there. In the dark. With him. Ari didn't know how he knew, but he did. He knew it like he knew where his paws were, or when it was getting dark outside, or when Mae was sad (although she pretended not to mind). Someone was there. He wanted to bark, to shift, but Mae was too close, and he risked discovery. So all Arjuna could do was stiffen, and let his lips draw back over his still-white set of adult teeth. He willed Mae away, and she went, giggling and pouncing on fading shadows. As she turned around a corner -
"Boo."
Ari jumped, and twirled. Leaves crunched and twigs snapped, but it didn't matter. He was being attacked! It was...
It was another Xholi.
He deflated slightly, but looked suspicious. The older Xholi laughed, and Ari relaxed slightly. An Enemy wouldn't laugh. At least, not in that good-natured tone.
"Turn around, little one, and lie still," the older Xholi said.
"That tail of yours is a beacon, and your friend is coming back this way."
So Arjuna did, and though Mae was looking carefully left and right as she passed, she did not see or hear Ari or Ari's strange companion. Said strange companion wriggled, slowly and silently, until the two Xholis, young and old, were lying side by side.
"You knew I was there."
Ari didn't deny it.
"How did you know? I am silent."
"Doesn't matter."
There was a pause as Arjuna tried to marshal his thoughts. The older Xholi didn't interrupt.
"It's not about sound," Ari said, finally. "I just... I just know."
"You just know."
From somebody else's lips, it sounded ridiculous. Ari hung his head.
But when the elder Xholi spoke, there was no ridicule in their tone.
"What do you do?"
"What do I -"
"Your discipline; your rank!"
"I don't have one yet. I choose... Soon."
And admitting that, of course, allowed the worry to resurface. Ari turned to face the older Xholi, and to his surprise, was met with a grin. The Xholi's brown eyes were gleaming on either side of a crinkled up nose.
"Well, the scouts would be lucky to have someone like you around. And if anyone says otherwise, tell them that you come recommended by Sage, alright?"
And, three days later, that is exactly what Arjuna did.
Arjuna's Tail
"I like you, kid. I really do. You're good at what you do," Savant Frond said.
He had taken Ari aside for a 'little talk' right in the middle of training. That was always ominous, and Arjuna's ears flattened with dread.
"You're quiet and fast, and almost freakishly observant. Why without that whatever-you-do, we'd-"
"It's about the tail, isn't it?" Ari interrupted quietly, before they could come to the 'but'. There was always a 'but' attached to the compliments, and that 'but' was attached to Ari's... well, butt.
Frond, cut short and with his punchline taken from him, could only shrug.
"Sticks out like a bleeding paw," he agreed.
Ari's throat tightened.
"Are they going to... Reassign me?"
"Reassign you?" Frond's tail lifted in surprise, as he said, "Of course we're not going to reassign you!"
Ari relaxed, but not very much.
"Then are you going to... Cut it off?"
"What? No! I mean we... If you just came without it we..."
Seeing Arjuna's disheartened look, Frond softened.
"Look," he said, "We are going to work this out. Just... Try to keep it tucked away on patrols, alright?"
Arjuna's apprenticeship had been going well. In theory. In practice sessions, safe in the territory. She - and she felt awfully like a 'she' during training - was, as Frond said, very good. She was quiet. She was quick. She could be somewhat distracted, but she was young and that could be improved upon. What could not be improved or changed, was her tail. It was pale. It was mobile. If she hid, it stuck out. If she sat on it, it twitched. Her team was often given away, during exercises, by that wayward and wandersome tail. And Ari tried. She really did. But, while all of the other apprentices had been taken out on real patrols, she had not. Not because she was naughty, or slow, or failed to learn, but because of her tail. That tail.
Soon enough, the scouts could delay no longer. Sage, who was old and grizzled with a white-peppered face, was putting pressure on them, and they concurred. Ari was ready.
"You need to be careful out there," Gaia, the patrol leader, said firmly.
"We aren't in training any more."
Ari knew that the patrol leader said this to every apprentice to go out on patrol, but she also knew that it held particular significance for her. Or, not exactly for her. For her tail. She glared at it.
"Don't mess this up," she told the pale shape flickering away from her every time she tried to fix it in her sights.
And, at first, it didn't.
The moon was high and bright, and thick shafts of silver light tumbled through the trees. But Ari was careful. Meticulous, in fact. She kept her tail hidden in the shadows, and in this way she wandered about, staying behind (as ordered) and scouting the premises. Because of that, and because she was so focused on keeping her wayward tail in check, Ari did not hear the hyenas until the point scout happened upon them. There was the sound of a scuffle, and a high warbling laugh. Ari froze, and leapt into the safety of the undergrowth. And there she hid as the altercation began.
Hyenas are terrible creatures; small and stinking of carrion, but brave for their size. They will approach all number of beasts, up to and including Xholis. They did not speak well. Some animals spoke well. But not hyenas.
"You must leave this land. Go on." That was Gaia, sounding firm.
"Hungry. Huuungreeeee," was the growling response, in a slobbering, slavering tone.
"Go on! Leave!"
But they weren't. Through the gaps in the leaves, Arjuna could see them gathering. She looked around desperately for another scout, but they were all revealed, ready for a face off. Hyenas were not smart, but they were tenacious. Their toxic teeth and vicious jaws could do serious, lasting injury. Horrified and helpless, Ari writhed.
The hyenas stopped. They froze, and turned to look right at her.
No. Not at her.
At her tail.
Ari wagged it. The hyenas zoned in. She tucked it in and out of the shadows. In the moonlight, her tail almost shone. Like a beacon. Like a torch.
Like a will 'o' the wisp.
Everyone knew the will 'o' the wisps. They led unwary travelers to their doom. But Ari was an apprentice, and not very likely to cause anyone doom. That didn't matter. She could be a distraction. She could, in fact, be a very good distraction.
So she was.
She ran and ran, weaving through the trees, but letting her tail catch the moonlight. For a moment, she thought that it wouldn't work. But then there was a crash, and the rumble of clumsy paws. The hyenas were pursuing. Ari ran fast, ran daringly, but always let her pursuers see her tail. They were desperate, she was young, and she began to tire. She couldn't fight hyenas. She couldn't fight anything. The trees cleared, and they came onto a boundary. The hyenas were running too fast to stop.
And the Dusk Dunia sentinels were waiting.
They talked about it for weeks afterwards. The threat, the chase, the quick dispatch. The sentinels were, of course, given all of the credit for protecting the pack. Mae was there. She was awfully proud to share the limelight. But on their own time, the scouts told a very different version of events. And so it happened, many days later, that Savant Frond approached Ari once again.
"So, kid. About that tail of yours..."
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