[P] dead dancing

[Jaxis]

JAXIS

HANDS STEEPED IN BLOOD

Wandering from the Day Court was ridiculously easy, and while Jaxis may have paused at some point near the Night Court, she'd thought better of it. Visiting her mother would have been rather nice (something rare and in between for her) but the gates were closed, and a looming threat hung over in the shape of a dragon. The speckled mare might have been a warrior in training, but she was no fool.

So gladly, she had turned herself and found, after a while of wandering, the lands of Terrastella. It wasn't the Court she approached but instead the swamps that bubbled and gurgled in low churning motions, the slog of heavy mud and tepid water. It was still, mostly, and her hooves left behind massive prints, marked in to the ooze of the lands, before her head lifted and she paused.

A network of caves lay in the distance, but it wasn't that, that had caught those eyes of hers. Instead, the purple irises settled on a tall figure (at least, taller than most, but she herself was tall), and she made her way over, slow and steady, walking with a step that eased her. She played this time, putting on a mask of someone not so violently inclined, instead wearing curiosity as she paused, nostrils flaring, ears flicking.

"Why are you playing with skin?" She couldn't help that bit, and her mask faltered slightly, revealing more curious emotions than one.. normally would have, when facing someone that was playing with the hides of animals.

@Turhan || mmmm this should be fun!

[Turhan]

“ bone to rune ”

It was time to strip the hair from the hides of the deer he had asked the hunters for a season ago.  Spring seemed to be a good time to get the young bucks which had dense but elastic skin that was more resilient to aging - flesh that would dampen the hollow sound of his drums whose heads desperately needed to be replaced.  It produced a deeper, warmer tone, so that the heartbeat of his fire ceremonies could be heard far beyond Tinea - to hopefully reach the ears of those destined to hear the Ilati's call.  In a way, it had, for another curious stranger happened to be happening his way, only to stumble upon a most gruesome scene --


Call it his summer project if you will - for what else was an old bear in the woods supposed to do?  His arthritic body could not move fast nor tolerate much more wear and tear, his journey was coming to an end and he was so close to joining Vespera.  He would be leaving this vessel to enter into a consciousness shared by the universe itself.  What energy and muscle mass he had was saved for ritual and ceremony. The art of preparing drumheads was a juxtaposition of both for Turhan, and so, after a night of soaking three buckskins in water and ash - it was time to scrape the slimy, half-melted fur off of them.


Turhan had finished tying off the skins that would later prepare them for stretching after he finished taking the bristle off of them.  The area surrounding smelled of sacred fire (various resins from trees, meadowsweet, and deep earthy woodvine, another native to Tinea), and sweetgrass which he braided in thick loops, hung, then promptly ignited with magnesium and flint.   He could make fire without magic, and he could hold onto a flame without a candle.  The man was no wizard, but the highly evolved use of telekinesis could make a marvel out of the geriatric just by observing his practiced-finesse with primitive tools. 


Jaxis, bold and brave in her arrival (or so Turhan heard by her sure-footed sneaking) did not follow through with it as her voice faltered.  Caught in the middle of what many considered most-strange, Turhan decided to remark her bravery by overlooking the slip of the mask.  "Bad smell.  I know."  He said gently enough with a simple nod of the painted white nose.  The bullhorns rattled with red threads full of tiny bells -- Pee-Eueh!, he shook his head and chuckled mostly to himself.  Beneath all that hocus pocus smoke was the underlying smell of meat and boiled hair when Jaxis got close enough.  Turhan seemed to be in a jovial and trusting mood today despite the grim-appearance of this encounter.


But again, let it be known if it was not already, he was blind enough to be shameless about the slurry of animal parts beneath his feet -- about the articulated scapular bone between his jagged jungle of teeth which he was using to scrape said texture off.


From the smell of her he could vaguely discriminate her as a sand-walker even though his opinion was entirely neutral.  "Drum. Drum. Drum .." he hummed. Only then, did the swamp seem to have a bit of a heartbeat too, which followed his steady humming. Drum. Drum. Drum .. and then Tinea quietly, near unfathomably, echoed his words.


"I make the drum for Circle."  He mentioned in his broken sort of way, then went on to describe how a hide was to be taken from a deer after it had been hunted with poisonous quills by the indigenous swamp people hiding inside of it.  Turhan made a howling noise with lots of laughter after that - but it seemed the Elder had been micro-dosing some herbal blend to keep his spirits so high.  There simply was no other explanation.


"Come, child of Solis.  You will make drum.  You will take it home to your people."  

T U R H A N
skull to dust

@Jaxis  Your violet-eyed beauty is adorable btw.  Something about her makes Turhan want to show her how to make craft projects that may later induce nightmares/trying to absorb her into the Ilati culture.

[Jaxis]

JAXIS

HANDS STEEPED IN BLOOD

It wasn't what she had asked, but nevertheless her curiosity was piqued by the old man and his bones, his odd language that seemed to jolt from his lips, a bit out of place. He himself was out of place, perhaps, but the swampy lands of Terrastella seemed to attract the oddest of the odd.

Even as she walked closer, her head lifted, the scent hitting her hard and fast, boiled skin and burned hairs. It was enough to make the bravest gag, but she was a monster cut from a different cloth. She was a creature shaped by her father and the harsh lands of Solterra that had beaten at her rough edges and smoothed her.

There was more smoothing to go, but it all came with due time.

He was odd but in a way that seemed to draw her in out of sheer curiosity, instead out of her innate desires to toy with someone. He seemed to hold a sort of power with his grim ritual happenings, and Jaxis wanted a part of it. Some part of her tugged and pulled, and she wanted to know, she wanted to learn from this strange old man.

Circle? Her curiosity niggled at her and she stepped ever closer to inspect the hide, surprised to find no holes in the flesh, and her head twisted a little to look at the man, to hear out his story. He was a bit more cracked than she could have ever assumed, but still, something primal seemed to twist about him and the swamp and caves, humming in the air.

Maybe she was just inhaling too much smoke that came from the many burning herbs and areas, clogging at her throat and making her tongue feel a little thick from the sheer scent.

"Me? Make a drum?" Violet eyes wandered back to the hide, and her ears flicked in interest, the small smirk tugging at her mottled lips. It was macabre, something that settled the beast in her chest, the ever preying predator. "Alright. Show me how to make a drum. Show me everything." Perhaps she was more intrigued and more than pleased by what had unfolded.

A drab visit to the Dusk Court was winding up being something she never could have dreamed of. Something to believe in, perhaps? If she could grasp at it, learn his ways as well, dabble in what he was. Dabble in to the unknown and nurture it, create it as her own.

@Turhan || excuse me while i yell bc thank you?!!?

[Turhan]

“ bone to rune ”

Jaxis was not the type of character that the Ilati naturally suspected. Call it his queue for a future opportunity to call upon her again, or maybe he just liked girls and the sounds of their voices. Whatever the reason he stepped aside to allow Jaxis in his camp, he did so without malice in his heart. The Elder continued with his work.


You watch - I show - you do. The crazy old man said as he taught her all the steps. He had dried skins out already and so while the last one dried he had her scrape it clean. Naturally he couldn't watch her work but he could hear her, stopping the young Solterran when she scraped too hard or too unevenly. They never spoke about who they were or why they were there together - Turhan simply insisted she 'make drum'.


The Elder did not like to make a habit out of having doubt for those who were taught his lessons - he expected to be respected, and listened to. He expected what he taught to never be forgotten. "Come. Come we make the drum now." Wheels of thin, hollowed out trunks rolled (wobbled, he appeared inebriated in some way although it was hard to tell) - and rolled until they reached the fire before falling over.


He explained (in his best words) that the skin needed to come over the open body and that the weight of the sound relied heavily on the evenness of overlay on the skin. She was to use the leather ties he had prepared, to use a knife to bore holes into the skin. It was a lesson in concentration, she would have to weave and wend the thongs in such a way that it would successfully hold it in place. After a few repetitions of the task he required of her, he stepped aside to let the stranger (still nameless) try for herself.

T U R H A N
skull to dust

@Jaxis <3 It'll pick up!

[Jaxis]

JAXIS

HANDS STEEPED IN BLOOD

Tilting her head, Jaxis was studious as she watched the elderly horse, her purple eyes curious, intelligent. It was easy to follow his steps, but not so easy to execute. She moved the bone with her jaw, using the innate telekinesis to move it as well, to hold it more steady as she focused. She drew back every so often, lightning or pressing down, easing herself in to it and following his instructions. Such a strange thing, but she found herself falling in to the rhythm of it, even if she wasn't the best at it. How odd, that she was simply falling in line with his teachings, but she was taught to listen, after all, to those that offered valuable lessons.

She was a little startled at his words, swiveling her ears toward him and slowly placing the bone to the side, floating it to land on a trunk that wasn't moved, scattered with tools. "Already?" She wasn't even sure what the hell to do with a drum. Take it back home, apparently, but then what? Have it as a decoration? Use it when she was bored? Still, she followed him, keeping an eye on how he moved (weaved a little, more like). Maybe it had something to do with the scents all around, the thick herbal taste on her tongue just from breathing in fumes.

The titan woman shook her head a little, trying to clear out a fog as she stepped near the fire, listening to him intently. There were no names, no reasons, only the urge to make a drum and be a part of whatever it was this horse was doing. Jaxis listened, as much as she could, to his broken speech pattern, easily picking up on what he wanted, what he told her. Of course, she watched him too, curiously watching the weaving strips of leather, the knife, all of it.

She was an incredibly fast learner, though she had to tighten the leather here and there, and the holes were a bit lopsided. It wasn't perfect, but her drum was complete soon, a little worse for wear but it was to be expected from someone new at the craft. All the same, she gave it a small testing beat on top, listening.

@Turhan || <3 <3

[Turhan]

“ bone to rune ”

Already?


'Yes.'


Turhan said nothing more, the Elder made his way to her drum and thumped it himself.  With a grumble and a grunt, he shook his head.  "You cannot take drum - you must start again."  And he was quite serious about that, unblinking as he said exactly that at her without a flinch in his lips.  "Must always be good the first time.  Bad luck to use bad drum."  Then he muttered something about being unlucky.  Jaxis did not seem to waver from her posted stance, his expectations were unrealistic but she was a stranger to he, the Ilati.  An outsider wanting in.


"Not a toy.  Is a tool.  For talking powerfully.  Your drum, cannot make big sound like this."  Although it seemed like he was nitpicking he made a point to hit his drum to show her.  His boomed with a deep resounding echo while Jax's - boomed too - did so with a softer, shorter reverberation.  The lesson was over before it began, the rag-and-bone man disappeared through the foliage with a loud 'You want to learn to make a drum.  You follow me -- COME' yelled with his grandpa priviledges.  He refused to say where he was going or why he was taking her there, just that she should follow if she found herself asking more questions rather than thinking to run.


"Come child of Solis, you must see."  Turhan twisted through tangles of vines and weaving branches of lagoon trees.  Moss hung in wet, soggy glops which liked to cling its clammy hands onto the smooth flesh of horseback.  The spongy ground absorbed heat and released suffocating levels of sulfur-infused humidity where he was going. Everywhere in the near and far distances, shadows danced just on the edge of being in and out of visual range.  Whatever they were they were silent as the shadows they were.  Whatever they smelled like was masked by the Elder's heavy perfumed mane.    


All the animals here sounded like they had tasted the flavor of blood, and meat.  They smelled of blood and meat, whatever they were - wherever they were hiding - whoever they were into (or wearing).


And they did --
,most of them.
No --
,all of them.


The desert was a harsh and unforgiving place and the child of Solis should know a challenge when it was proposed.  Turhan stopped in the very thickest of Tinea - surrounded by miles and miles and more miles of thick vineland, of the same thick wet brickabrack weaving of grove trees and other aquaculture.  The water was thick and pitch black here, the ground all silt, sand, and mud.  Some puddles were sinkholes, and the stones across the way from them turned out to be two large alligator heads watching them.  Bugs were in clouds wherever a corpuscular stream of light broke through the heavy, dank canopy.


Almost everything brightly colored was poisonous bugs, frogs, flowers, mushrooms, and even the spores of exotic ferns with their fronds full of it.  Here the light barely broke through.  Large boulders rose out of water beds, the pathways were woven in treeroots, slippery with rot and scum, anything else to walk on was mud or a sinkhole.  Trees were covered with bones.  Skulls tied to their trunks, flat bones hung from the branches like christmas ornaments.


Some skulls were bloodslick and fresh.  The stink of the meat was still on some of the other bones which belonged to those bloody skulls, they dangled gory and red in the not too far distance.  The wind brought the smell before light brought the vision of such macabre elements.


"You want to make drum - you find a skin in there.  I give you three dusks, two mornings to come back."  The challenge had been set, but he required more.  She was a stranger coming in, there was no such thing as a fair advantage for an Mlendo like her.  Not long after he had presented her with a list of items to bring back, he was gone the second she looked away - leaving her with little to no guidance as to what or why he was even doing this.

T U R H A N
skull to dust

@Jaxis  Sorry it took so long.  It moved through a lot of material, figured she can just thread here for this silly Ilati trial.  He'll most likely put her through more - he is a hardass.  : /

THE TRIAL PROMPT:


Looks like the Elder is vesting interest in Jaxis.  Why?  He's old and crazy and she is young and pretty.  Not only that, but this beauty likes to scrape the hair slurry of dead animal flesh.  He wonders if she has what it takes to get a little dirt under those nails, to fight infectious viruses and to avoid poisoning herself in the wilds of Tinea.


 Turhan leads the child of Solis into the thickest parts of Tinea and asks for three things; a fresh pair of crow wings, a satchel of rare dark purple orchids**, and the third item is dealer's choice/that is Jax. In addition to gathering these items, he requires Jaxis to supply her own fresh skin to complete his drum lesson.


**Buyer Beware!  The dark blooms of the Tinea orchid, if harvested incorrectly, will spray a heavy dose of psychotropic dust that - if inhaled - will cause major auditory and visual hallucinations.   Effects last between 3-6 hours, this bloom is used by the Ilati during spiritual rituals when individuals come of age and must reach out beyond their physical realm to find spiritual guidance.


Any questions just message me @Snell.  ILY I hope you have fun with this prompt.

[Jaxis]

JAXIS

HANDS STEEPED IN BLOOD

There was a frown on pink mottled lips as he thumped it himself, as the drum made the strangest sound, unlike his own. Jaxis felt her ears go back, and she opened her mouth before closing it, rather taken aback by his words. Bad luck for a bad drum? That was.. a strange thing, but to each their own, she supposed, and she watched him make his way to his drum and strike it. It boomed louder than her own, a rumble in the air that could likely be heard further than her own attempt. But it was a first try, and if anything, Jaxis learned long ago that one must try and try again to succeed. Those that made it on a first try were lucky, not skilled.

"I -- wait, what?" Her voice called after the old man, but she moved on her large hooves and pushed forward, following him through thick vines and foliage, ducking her head to prevent snags on her horns. Of course, some still managed to hook on to the branching of them and she had to jerk her head to break away, scowling. They snapped and cracked against her nape, but soon enough, she was navigating with a little more ease, even with the moss that dripped on to her head. It was shaken away, and she kept moving forward, until they finally stopped.

It was a jolt, but she managed to not run in to the old man, her throat clogged with humidity from the muggy air, and her ears twisted as she looked over the lands, pressed her hooves down in to the spongy ground. Her head turned to look at the Elder and her lips pursed as she heard him, and her eyes narrowed slightly. A challenge then, was it? "Fine." She looked at the layout before her, and turned back, only to be startled that the old man was.. gone. "...damnit."

She moved herself, and began a walk through the swamps, the dark waters thick and churning with mud, her steps sloppy, the ground attempting to swallow her. A list was in her head, and the first thing she'd have to go for were the flowers. Fresh crow wings would be last, being as she had two days to do it all. Bring them extremely fresh to him, if she had to.

Orchids. As pretty as they were (when she finally found them after hours in the muck) she had the faint inkling that they weren't as they seemed. No, everything here was poisonous or venomous or held some trick up its proverbial sleeve, so while they were pretty, she imagined she would have to handle them rather.. delicately.

Thirty minutes are spent with her staring at the blooms, as if attempting to figure them out, before she finally moved herself. She plucked with her teeth, not her telekinesis. After all, wasn't his entire lesson in the first place to not use magic? Her ears twisted as her teeth pinched, and she finally pulled. For a brief second, she thought she had it, until a cloud of pollen burst in to the air in her face. Coughing, sneezing, she dropped the first flower as she inhaled the spores, shaking her head and staggering a few paces back.

It only took several moments for the world to begin distorting, and for her to realize... she had most certainly messed up.

@Turhan (and any other Ilati) || she got her bonded in another thread so yay I can pick up on this again!!

[Turhan]

“ bone to rune ”

She was three steps into the madness, already preyed upon by all of that, which filled the wilds of Tinea Swamps this night.  The bugs buzzed in the glow, everything was muggy, wet, and warm.  Carnivores restlessly stirred in the shadows while the passerines hop-scotched and floated through the tangles and knots of vines, watching the sleek back of an unknown person entering sacred Ilati territory.  Even though the Ilati were not too far behind her, it was less of a comforting thought than one would imagine.  For now, the Elder returned home to leave the girl alone for the time being, the trial was more for her than anyone else.


Something was here for Jaxis and the Elder had told her to go forth and find it.  Poison, power, and purpose, these were the three things that Turhan had asked for.  Later, when the time came (and it would come, he expected it to) -- she would have to show him all three things he had asked for.


Then what?  


Perhaps she would meet Vespera, the Protector of Dusk, and learn a thing or two about that which she longed to be apart of.  Perhaps Jaxis would find her reasons for all the things she was always questioning.  The trial was a test of power, of skill, and great spirituality.  Whatever the young mare would recover out there, he maintained his optimism for her coming out of it wiser -- if she would come out of it at all.  Outsiders rarely stuck around and most often times ran at the first sign of an exit.  


Hopeful, Turhan rested in the quiet, protected shelter of his cave.  The Elder started his fires once again, and began to pray.


-end-

T U R H A N
skull to dust

@Random Events  @Jaxis :  We'll end this thread here, and pick up another whenever you are ready, Jaxis is a beautiful character and I enjoyed this!

[Jaxis]

JAXIS

HANDS STEEPED IN BLOOD

The swamps would eat her alive, but in the end, she would crawl out, boggy and covered but carrying that which was needed.

New as she was, she had endurance that had come from living among the heat of Solis, from the harsh desert days and nights that carved and chipped at mountains.

She would find the fires, and make her way to them instead. The tasks were complete, after grueling time and the hallucinations from the plants. But she overcame.

fin!!