literature

Dire Raffle entry

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The snow falling behind him enveloped the world, switching to a palette devoid of colour. The scattering of trees were swaying gently in the breeze, as though it was playing a soft melody for only them to hear, whispering through the leaves. The background was a flurry of movement, the foreground very still in comparison. A the image of the world began breaking then joining back together as ripples surged through the previously still pool, the Tokota finally moved. Only to blink its eyes, but that was enough to draw back into the foreground, the green eyes contrasting against a dark face. Whatever he had been thinking about, it had been disturbed and was not going to return, particularly as he was distracted again by other movement. It was in the background, but not snow or trees, it was other Tokotas, and handlers, moving through the trees to catch up to him.


Leading the way was Tara, the largest individual in their group by a long way. For her size though she had quite an energetic gait, perhaps she just enjoyed it out here... Doe was less energetic. Not slow or lazy, just moving more slowly and gracefully than the dire Tokota, as though the entire forest was waiting and watching to see her slip up. The beautiful vitiligo pelt disappeared then reappeared through the trees like the stars moving across the night sky, or snow falling, in elegant, leisurely movements. Next was Azure, sticking very closely to the two other females as if she felt that she would be left behind, alone in the forest, if she strayed too far. Who knows what the other Tokotas would do, but she had nothing to fear. The handlers wouldn't leave her out there alone. She wasn't going to take that chance though. Following a little behind was the long maned Tavrani. Rani searched through the undergrowth as she manoeuvred through the trees, her long fur dragging along the ground and collecting all kinds of debris. She didn't seem to care, and although the handlers exchanged disappointed looks on the subject, there was no point in cleaning her up this early on in the expedition. Bringing up the rear was Nala, her piebald coat muddied from unwanted play with the others. She didn't seem to want to be out in the forest, and was fighting the decision as much as she could, but like Azure she didn't really want to be left out in the forest so she reluctantly followed the rest of the ground. Dragging her feet, she formed grooves in the soft earth as a sign of her rebellion.


As quickly as they had arrived, they moved on, with the exception of Doe who stayed behind to make sure that the half mane male didn't stay put and get lost. Huffing slightly at him, her breath visible against her brown pelt though obscured by the speckled white vitiligo across her face, she glanced over at the handlers as if to ask that one of them come and deal with him. It seemed that some prompting would be needed after all. For Bael's handler, Liam, this was not a surprise. Bael liked to get his own way even if getting that meant that he would be sitting in the middle of the forest in a snow storm on his own.

Come on Bael, we have to move... The others have already left.” He sighed and moved closer to the Tokota, running his hand over the beast's neck then taking hold of the halter and urging him to move on. Luckily enough for the handler, Bael didn't put up much of a fight, but unfortunately this did mean that he was likely to play up again later on. Oh joy. Meeting back up with the others, Liam gave them a knowing smile, and they all had a bit of a laugh amongst themselves. At least small problems like this weren't taken very seriously.

Much to Liam's advantage, they weren't too far from the ice fields where they could begin the day's fishing. The forest gave way to the ice, the trees few and far between, barely providing any form of cover from the snow fall. The ice seemed to go on as far as the eye could see, although that was likely distorted by how much the heavy snow would allow you to see. Liam could barely make out the shapes of the Tokotas moving on the ice's surface. Rani was nearly invisible, her shape nearly completely obscured by the falling snow. Only the patches of brown on her pelt were visible, and some of the debris collected in her long fur. Nala had the same issue. Further away from the group, she was even more difficult to make out, so much that Liam had to call for her to move closer so as not to lose her. Doe looked a little more white than usual, as the snow clung to her pelt, but her usually neat fur was a mess as the winds whipped through it. Azure had the least amount of problems, not counting Bael who had decided not to venture out into it too far, as she had been wise enough to stay close to the handlers. Tara was probably the worst affected. She clearly was not enjoying the fact that she couldn't see. Her size just made it all the more annoying for her, as she caught her paw on an exposed root and tripped, the sudden impact on the ice cracking it, and making it much more unstable. The sound had been difficult to hear for the handlers, but the Tokotas knew that this wasn't a good sound, so they quickly moved away, likely following their noses to get back within the relative safety of the forest then calling out to the handlers who followed.


There was no way they were getting through there, not right now. So while the Tokotas calmed themselves down, the handlers all came together to think up a plan. First to speak was Niomey, who felt that it was best to state the obvious before they continued with the rest of the conversation. There was no way that they could go out there, it was far too unsafe, and so there was not going to be any fishing today. At this, everyone did seem a little disappointed, and who could blame them, but it was necessary to ensure the safety of everyone there. Shelly kept quiet, shoving her hands in her pink hoodie to keep warm while the others figured out what they would be able to do. This was when Adam suggested that they just wait the bad weather out, but that idea was shot down quickly enough. No one seemed sure on when this weather would ease up. Kristof seemed to take Shelly's approach and just stay out of it, deciding to stay out of the way while Adam, Niomey and Liam came up with the solutions to the problems. “Why don't we just treat it like we've gone out to explore? I mean, we're pretty far from home, I've only really been out this way a few times?” Liam shrugged, offering a vague opinion, but something that the others could agree on. What they did next though, was still a mystery.


After a few more minutes of back to back opinions and subsequent shutting down of said opinions, they decided to just move with no particular destination in mind, just to explore whatever they came across. Everyone could agree to that, so they mounted up and rode back through the trees the way they had come from before, hoping to find something interesting.

It seemed like they had been going for miles when they finally came across something that wasn't a tree or another form of vegetation. Azure had likely smelled the water, and so had steered them all towards it. Everyone had definitely earned a bit of a break right now, and by the river was as good as any other place.


It wasn't a very deep river, in fact it was more aptly described as water running over gravel, but that changed a little downstream. It grew deeper and deeper, until you couldn't actually see the bottom of it from the surface. They avoided that section, who knows what could be down there that could cause them harm. Of course not monsters, but there could be a number of currents or sharp rocks, or plants to become tangled in. It wasn't worth the risk. So they let the Tokotas play on the other section. Although it was very strange at first, they seemed to enjoy the way the gravel felt beneath their pads, and Tara was relieved to find that her larger paws were an advantage as the rocks beneath her didn't move as much.


Nervous at first about everything that was going on, the games started small, flicking water at one another, at the handlers, and getting water flicked back. Then came the shuffling of stones, being pushed into piles and then pushed over while the handlers laughed in the background. Then came the chasing, up and down the side of the river, across the banks, attempts to jump over the gravel sections (though they did fail, it was too wide for that). It was all fun and games after the stressful events of the day. None of them could say that they enjoyed a failed fishing trip so much before this one, that's to say that it just didn't feel like they had wasted their time earlier. This was a nice little reward.


Doe was taking the time to preen herself in the water. Nothing extensive, just to put her fur back in a more comfortable position. Rani had gotten herself as wet as possible, so Doe took it upon herself to try and sort her out as well, as best she could. Despite her usual attitude, Rani seemed to appreciate the help. It seems she had gotten it a little too wild even by her standards. Nala was getting on much better now, she was chasing Bael up and down the riverbank, supposedly playing some form of tag with him and Azure, who was much more skilled than the male at avoiding the other Tokota. She could calculate where the other Tokotas were going to be, and keep out of their way, while Bael and Nala's approaches were more like just running at the others and trying to catch someone. More luck based than anything else.


Once they had their fill of water, and running around, they decided to explore the rocky outcrop where the river met the mountains. The small group of Tokotas had clearly not thought this through completely, as they had no idea of how hard it would be. Bael didn't find it too difficult, although on several occasions he did become cocky and slip a little. No harm done though. Tara could cover more ground, but her weight made the rocks under her paws a little less stable. She persevered though, and due to her focus, she climbed to the top, followed closely by the others. From there, they sat down and looked around. On a nice, clear day, you could see for miles and miles from up there. Though it was still sheltered by the trees to some extent, there were more gaps up here, so the snow could fall through. Not so much that they couldn't see too much though, nothing like before, so they watched and waited, hoping that the handlers would look up at them proudly for what they had all accomplished. It had been a very steep climb, one that had taken some time as the sun was beginning to settle on the horizon before it finally dipped beneath it. Despite being a complete failure of the initial plan, the day had gone pretty well actually, so to celebrate the new friends and the fun they had, they all raised their muzzles to the sky and howled from their rocky outcrop.


The handlers looked up at the sound, and they were proud.

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HP count -
Word count (2027) - 10HP
Handler bonus - 2HP
Expedition bonus - 2HP
Starter bonus - 2HP
Non commissioned (Bael only) - 1HP

Total - 17HP for Bael
16HP for everyone else

I'm entering  Nojjesz 's Art Raffle for a chance to win a slot to her Dire Built Tokota.
For more info check out the original journal: Start the New Year with a Massive ArtRaffle (DIRE)


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Link to import sheet:
  Bael 2114
Link to hunting journal: Bael 2114 Tracker
Items/Companions:
None

Link to import sheet:  Tara 1535
Link to hunting journal: Tara - Hunting, fishing, exploring
Items/Companions:
None

Link to import sheet:  Doe 1444
Link to hunting journal: Doe - Hunting, Fishing, Exploring
Items/Companions:
Donner companion (Proof?)
Not sure what you need to do when they do have something XD If I just needed to say the companion then okay x3

Link to import sheet:  Nala 893
Link to hunting journal: Nala - Fishing / Hunting / Exploring
Items/Companions:
None

Link to import sheet:  Azure 1131
Link to hunting journal: Azure - Fishing / Hunting / Exploring
Items/Companions:
None
© 2015 - 2024 Pix-san
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