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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jun 7, 2011 7:16:28 GMT -5
It had promised to be a day like any other; hunt, practise, sleep. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, concealing myself in the twilight as I went out to hunt for that night's dinner.
For some reason I had decided to venture closer to the edge of civilisation, I don't know why. I had never been discovered thus far, I suppose in my arrogance I never thought it would happen.
I blame the rabbit.
It is a gift of the Maghuin Dhonn, that when we are in the twilight we are closer to the spirit world. I had done it enough times, usually the creature would be obedient, its spirit acknowledging mine as I gave the command for it to stop, in order for me to kill it cleanly and painlessly.
Only this time, instead of holding utterly still, the rabbit seemed to jump on the spot erratically, as though it were responding to something else other than me. Carelessly, I let the twilight fall away from me and glared at the silly creature.
"Well, off you go then," I muttered darkly.
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Post by Caelum mab Halcyone on Jun 8, 2011 0:37:56 GMT -5
I hadn't been out hunting in awhile, and tonight I needed to get away from the rest of the clan, so here I was, wandering aimlessly and looking for something to shoot. I kept thinking about Decimus and Terre d'Ange and wondering if it was time for me to do something else with my life. Of late, there was no glory to be had in Eire nor Alba, and I was fed up with it.
I brooded as I walked, and I was afraid that I was not being as stealthy as I could have been. I spotted no game and finally I stopped in irritation, trying to find my center. I wouldn't have hit bear with my arrows as agitated as I was.
I saw it then, a rabbit, behaving quite strangely, in the middle of the clearing. It didn't bound away as I lifted my bow, though it seemed to almost twitch on the spot. I was almost afraid to shoot it, was it some sort of cursed animal?
And then suddenly there was someone there, on the other side of the clearing. Surprised, I let my arrow fly, though it went quite wide, thunking into the tree behind the woman. Where the hell had she come from?
The rabbit bounded away and I cursed. "Well, now you've cost me my dinner," I said, cross because I hadn't seen her before. Was I going blind?
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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jun 8, 2011 0:46:33 GMT -5
An arrow flew past, embedding itself into the tree behind me with a resounding twang that made me alert to another presence. So that's why the rabbit wouldn't do as I bid. I trained my arrow on the stranger instead as he began to cuss at me for allowing the rabbit to flee.
"Your dinner?" I shot back, equally cross. "If you hadn't scared it I would have had it by now."
Then, it dawned on me that he could see me. Panic rose in my throat and I wondered if I could possibly time it so that I slipped into the twilight while he blinked. I couldn't do it while he was watching me.
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Post by Caelum mab Halcyone on Jun 12, 2011 0:31:11 GMT -5
Whoever she was, she was impertinent, but I supposed I couldn't claim the rabbit for certain, she had been standing on the opposite side of the clearing, perhaps we had sighted it together. Or perhaps not, but I didn't feel like arguing the point, since the rabbit was gone and neither one of us was getting it.
I walked toward her, wondering who she was, not that I knew everyone around here, only most. She was young, and pretty, and I decided that it being angry wasn't doing me any good, here or elsewhere.
"Caelum mab Halcyone, at your service," I said, bowing low and then standing up with a crooked grin on my face. "I propose we continue hunting, and split the kill, so we both have dinner. What do you think?"
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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jun 12, 2011 0:54:59 GMT -5
Halcyone. Daughter of Hyacinthe and Sibeal. That meant he was a very distant relative on my mother's side, through my grandmother. I took in the dark eyes, the blue warrior markings and slowly lowered my bow.
"Chantal mab Morwen," I supplied, since it was only fair that I introduce myself too. I didn't know how such formalities went, so I gave my own little stiff bow in return and regarded him warily. He hadn't mentioned my sudden appearance, maybe he hadn't noticed I'd done any magic at all. "I'm willing to share," I agreed finally, "just as long as you don't scare it off again."
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Post by Caelum mab Halcyone on Jun 12, 2011 19:06:32 GMT -5
"Me?" I said, affronted at the idea that it was I who had frightened off the rabbit. "You were making as much noise as ten men!" I declared, though in truth I had not even noticed her until the rabbit was well away. Still.
I mastered my temper, though, because I was actually hungry, and the two of us stalking the forest on opposing sides would make hunting near impossible.
"Regardless of who scared off the rabbit," I said magnanimously, "we had better get to looking for it, the woods are scarce of game this late in the winter."
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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jun 12, 2011 19:23:26 GMT -5
I raised an eyebrow at his manner. By the great bear, he seemed to change moods quickly. Angry, then pleasant then snappy again. He seemed to revert back to civil eventually, and I bit the retort on my tongue at his accusation that I was being noisy.
"Very well then," I said, as I approached him. It was better to go with him, to extract a promise that he wouldn't tell anyone he'd seen me later. "There should be more in that direction," I pointed the way the rabbit had bounded off. This would be so much easier if I could summon the Twilight around us both, but I wasn't sure of this man. Not yet, anyway.
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Post by Caelum mab Halcyone on Jun 19, 2011 19:53:04 GMT -5
"All right, let's see what we can do," I said, my voice quiet as we started to move in the direction that the rabbit had gone. I drew my bow and started to watch for signs of more game, though I was uncomfortably aware that all of a sudden I kept putting my feet wrong. First I stepped on some branches, the crackling so loud I didn't think we'd catch a boar at this point. "Sorry..." I muttered, making a greater effort to stop being such a moon-faced idiot.
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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jun 19, 2011 21:25:52 GMT -5
For all his warrior markings, he was stumbling around like a green lad at hunting. We would scare off all the game in the forest at this rate. Too hungry and impatient to dally any further, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
"Don't panic," I said softly, taking a deep breath in and drawing us both into the Twilight. The world became dim and shimmring, the forest more vivid around us. I closed my eyes and listened, then heard it; the pulse of multiple heartbeats.
"There's a family of them beyond the bushes." I told him as I nocked my arrow and approached it.
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Post by Caelum mab Halcyone on Jun 21, 2011 21:06:53 GMT -5
My heart felt like it had stopped for a moment as the world around seemed to ... shimmer, to dim as if something were placed over the sun. She'd said not to panic but I was hard pressed not to shoot at anything the moved, my nerves were strung so tight. I'd heard of this sort of thing, of course, but experiencing it was something altogether different.
"How can you tell?" I whispered, having a hard time making anything out in the dimness... or maybe it was just the loudness of my own heartbeat that was making things so difficult. I kept my bow ready though, mostly because it made me feel better. This little slip of a girl had unmanned me in mere seconds and I was rather embarrassed, though I tried to pretend that whatever was happening was perfectly natural.
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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jun 21, 2011 21:35:24 GMT -5
Despite the fact that his voice was reasonably steady, I could hear his hearbeat throbbing frantically. Just went to show how diluted the bloodlines had become, that he reacted this way. Once upon a time they'd been something like us, at one with the nature around us. But then again I couldn't really pass on that judgement myself.
"If you calm down a bit, you'll be able to hear it too," I told him, making ready to shoot. I could see the hint of brown fur just beyond the foliage.
"Hold," I said quietly, this time making sure that the animal would hear and heed me, loud and clear. The creature stilled, and I loosed my arrow, and another one for a second rabbit. The rest of them fled, though that didn't matter. I was not callous enough to go overkill when we had already had enough for a decent meal between us.
I let the twilight slip away, the sound of his pulse receding back into the muteness of the mortal world, our surroundings dull once more. Putting my bow away, I knelt by the rabbits and set about removing my arrows. "You can choose which one you want."
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Post by Caelum mab Halcyone on Jun 25, 2011 21:22:45 GMT -5
Calm down ... I could do that. I took a deep breath and found my center, something I had learned in archery as a child. It was easy now, to slip into that peace, and she was right - I could hear them, their small hearts beating rapidly. The shock of it snapped me out of it, and then she was shooting them, so easily it was like they simply gave themselves to her.
I realized that I was standing there with my mouth slightly open as we suddenly returned to the 'normal' world, whatever that meant. I snapped my mouth shut with an audible click and then knelt across from her, choosing a rabbit arbitrarily.
"How did you do that?" I asked, knowing that she must be ... well, not someone I had thought to meet, not here.
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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jun 25, 2011 22:44:05 GMT -5
"It is one of the gifts of the Maghuin Dhonn," I told him as I put the arrowheads in a separate patch to be cleaned later. Surely, he would have recognised it? Then again, if the endless recitations of lineage my mother had made me memorise served correctly, he was of very mixed heritage; not only of the Black Boar but of D'Angeline blood, and those they called Tsingani. Our part in Alba's lore was probably ignored by them. Slinging the rabbit over my shoulder, I shrugged. "Like the sight and dreams gifted to the daughters of your mother's line. It is but one of many."
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Post by Caelum mab Halcyone on Jun 28, 2011 17:06:09 GMT -5
The Maghuinn Dhonn, of course. I should have known, but I did not always hold with the mystical, finding it strange and unsettling, and for my part, I generally kept as far from such things as I could. Still, this girl did not seem so bad, and her skill could not go unacknowledged.
"Do you have many such skills?" I asked her, putting away my bow and lifted up the rabbit to survey it. A clean kill, as I'd expected.
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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jun 28, 2011 17:52:26 GMT -5
The alarm bells started to siren and I shrugged. It would be best to downplay them for now, just in case he had any ideas of exploitation; but a little part of me wanted to mess with him.
"I am not as proficient as I might have been, I came to learning it all late," I said seriously. "But the greatest among us are capable of such things as shapeshifting, adept at curses and manipulating the weather."
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Post by Caelum mab Halcyone on Jul 11, 2011 20:47:24 GMT -5
Shapeshifting? I knew my jaw had dropped at that, and I clicked it shut quickly.
"Oh." I said, ever the scintillating conversationalist. "Er, do they do that often? Shapeshift and cast curses and the like?" I was actually a bit terrified of her answer, and I looked down at the rabbits and hoped that we hadn't actually shot anyone.
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Post by Chantal mab Morwen on Jul 11, 2011 21:34:06 GMT -5
"When it is needful," I answered loftily. "To keep away the meddlers and for oath-breakers especially," I couldn't help it, I looked up at him and gave a sweetly nasty smile. "But you've nothing to fear on those counts, right?"
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