Open Chronicles Dreams of the Us Still Here

[Su Jun Seo]

"Acceptance doesn't mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there's got to be a way through it."
-Michael J. Fox
Peace in it of itself does not always make for the most interesting of stories, but it often serves to help us reflect upon the times of strife in our lives. It was during a supposedly peaceful night that this story begins, among the many locations of the wider continent.

The night seemed to have been like many other nights, relatively quiet, the only noise that ever permeated the forest was that of nature; the sounds of the winds rustling the foliage and the occasional noises of nocturnal life. It was only venturing further into the forest, did you perhaps would also hear the quiet cackling of fire.

Though the fire was small, it did shine among the darkness, but you'd hardly be able to tell, as it was sheltered among the many large trees of the forest. Of course, fires this controlled don't often start as a result of a natural phenomenon, somthing more must of started it. Indeed, a bald man was seated around the fire, in his hands appeared to have been some sort of cooked...small avian.So the man would sit there, eating what presumably was his dinner, as he did nothing more then stare into the fire. When the man was satisfied, he threw the remainder of the carcass into the fire and watched as the flames flared up.

Time would pass...the fire would disintegrated the remains of the carcass...but would eventual dim, without further fuel to feed upon it's light...and eventually, the man himself would stamp out the flame,scatterings the remains with his foot...leaving himself in the pitch black darkness.

It was time for bed.

After the fire had been disposed of, the man would approach a tree. With one motion, he leaped onto the trunk, and began to scurry upwards, disappearing among the branches and leaves. The rustling noise masked by the dancing of the tree branches among the soft wind...

At some point, this man would climb upon a rather thick branch, easing himself onto the stable branch. The man would take a couple of seconds to tie up his belongings, which consisted of a knapsack and a makeshift wooden bow, to a separate tree branch. It was only when this was done, did the man ease himself into a sitting position upon the branch, laying his tired back against the tree trunk

The man had chosen to rest upon the midway point of the tree; high enough to not be spotted from below, but low enough not to suffer from the swaying of the trees. The man also had a good view of the surrounding tree tops and landscape, as their was a bit of the opening among the branches that revealed such...not to mention the night sky, dotted by the night sky and dominated by the crescent moon.

Sleeping among the trees apparently wasn't a new concept to this man, as it would seem the man had a certain degree of confidence in staying upright during the night.

Yet...sleep he did not...at least not immidatly.

Instead, he reached into his clothing and pulling out a necklace that had been previously hidden. The necklaces itself would have been seen as simple to some, as the most notable part of the necklace was only a plain jade stone. Yet it was clear that it held great significance to the man, as he began to smooth over the jade with his thumb.

After a considerable amount bit of time, the man looked up into the sky...gazing upon the stars, as the night clouds passed...and began humming a quiet tune...thinking...wondering...maybe even hoping...of what you may ask?

That would still remain a mystery.

Spoiler

​

 

[lionman]

twigs and leaves crash and break under my feet as i hurdle through the woods my second in command is running as hard as i the dark worshipers are hot on our trail. we ran for what felt like hours, separated from the rest of the tribe as we had been ambushed.

the faint smell of a long dead fire tickled my nose as we rested beside a tree gasping for air and drinking water from hide bags.

"my lord do you smell what i smell?" my second says to me. the glow of his eyes shine bright with curiosity.

"maybe a camp" i shrug. im unsure what furless folk would camp so far in the thickets of danger but something is telling me its just going to be more trouble. as a leader i am expected to enter any situation without hesitation.

"lets see whats camping here maybe we can find some food"

i can sense the grin on my seconds face as we get up and began tracking. we eventually found a small fire or whats left of one along with ashy bones of a dead thing.

"no food" my second says sniffing the air.

"the food did not go far"

i sniff the ground i could smell one furless folk.

"theres one he's alone" my second smiles i could see the glint of his blood stained teeth in the moon light.

"my lord your nose is god like"

i ignore his pitiful praise and begin tracking the furless folk.

i find myself at the base of a tree with no discernible evidence that what ever went up the tree ever came down. only the smell of furless folk a strong odor easy to track.

"come down little furless folk we only want to play" my second says cackling.

"hold your tounge we arent the only beasts in these woods they could hear us" i hiss rapidly in our native speak.

i look up into the tree trying to see what i could.

"do not worry furless we are only looking for food" i say up into the tree hoping to get a response if we do climbing the tree for a hunk of furless flesh would be worth it but climbing the tree would also be difficult and i dont want to put us in a vulnerable situation

 

[Su Jun Seo]

Adjusting his head, the man got a good look at what had been making all that racket, tucking the necklace back into his shirt to ensure it's safety.

A good dozen of meters away, near where he had made the camp fire, were rather.... interesting...beasts. Beings with the torsos of lions, and the limbs of men, and by the sound of it, they were hungry. Yet they were quite a bit away from where the bald man sat, staring up at the some random tree. They seem to think the bald man was there, which seem rather amusing to the man himself. Perhaps they were relying too much on their noses, trusted it to tell them exactly what they wanted, despite the married of externalities of the situations, such as the wind blowing scattering the scent across the forest. The bald man could be here, there, anywhere really.

The bald man said nothing, just resting his head back against the tree trunk. He was in no real danger, as they were not even looking up the right tree, much less even spotted him.

Yet at the same time, these were one of those nights for him...sleepless...nights spent with many thoughts flowing in and out of his head...least he had somthing to look at...​

 

[lionman]

my second sigh's "i dont think anyone is up there my lord"

we had been calling up to a seemingly empty tree for 10 minutes. i was sure the scent lead there. perhaps even my sense of smell is failing me in my old age.

i growl. the feeling of being watched was clear in my mind there was no doubt. a rustle in the bushes almost sends me up the tree. one of my scouts had burst through the thicket in terror.

"my lord, it is you. the east tribe is scattered. the white devils have been hunting us down one by one." he paused and took a breath.

"our shaman took an arrow, before he died he told me he envisioned you here i came to make sure you were not lost too"

the young scout of 14 cycles looked even younger in the moon light. not the worrier he should be but just a cub.

i had taken east tribe after the loss of there king, there were many challengers but in the end they were defeated and since then ive goe unchallenged. tonight was suppose to be the night id leave the tribe. my second would be in charge as i journey back to my tribe.

the loss of a shaman means that the east tribe will never recover.

"thats unfortunate, listen young scout we need you to track the owner of this camp"

he looked confused for a moment then looked past me.

"you mean the odd bald furless creature watching us?"

i turned but did not see who he was pointing to

my seconds squints then chuckles while shrugging.

"this is why we make the youngsters do scouting i cant even see what hes talking about"

i whisper into the scouts ear. he smiles and ready's his bow quickly firing an arrow into the trees. a warning shot if done correctly will land beside a foe as warning. if done wrong, well then either you miss out right or you accidentally kill the target.

"come out bald folk"

the kid yells. east tribe dont run into furless folk like we do so its understandable he would get the words wrong but it still made my second snicker like a hyena

i throw him a dirty look and a hiss.

 

[Su Jun Seo]

From the darkness, a pair of golden eyes would stare down at the lions, quiet at it's observation. Moments later, the bright yellow eyes disappeared into the foliage, followed by some rustling in the trees, as somthing suddenly shot out upwards in the dark.

"Who! Who!"

From a distance, one could watch the dark figure of an avian took flight from the trees. It would appear that the "bald folk" had been an owl, whom was no doubt watching the lot. When the youngling had shot at it, the owl had became startled and took off, deciding it was best to relocate itself from it's current position, before those below had a chance to make a meal out of it.

The air grow quiet again, well as quiet as things could be in the forest. Nocturnal life was teeming in the area, not to mention the winds masked any sense of clarity within the forest.

It would be then, a nearby push would rustle...and then suddenly a bush next to that would rustle...then another....​

 

[lionman]

OOC
ok as much as i liked the comedic dodge the first time they mistook your location this second time is out of hand and if you plan on simply dodging every chance i try to create an encounter the story will never continue and ill simply write my characters out and you can find someone else to rp with this is an example of bad rp habits and if this is your writing style i think you will find not many will wanna participate with you

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"there was a man there i swear he jumped to that tree there" the boy said angrily.

"show yourself" my second yells

"this is no way to make friends" he hisses.

"quiet down there may still be white devils in these woods" i say looking around the dark Forrest for watching eyes.

"we promise not to hurt you, in fact your evasion tactics may be quite beneficial to us. as our knowledge of the Forrest is also as useful as your tactics"

my second gives me an 'are you serious look' i gave him a blank stare in return.

the use of those that you cannot fight is better than risking your life to try to defeat them. diplomacy is a furless trait but one i have used quite well