• Graded • [Mature] Acquiring the Totem: Great White

Making totems

30th of Ashan 717

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[Mature] Acquiring the Totem: Great White

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30th Ashan 717

Previously, that trial...

As fast as he could, the Lothar bound through the forest. Granted, that wasn't fast at all by most standards. His adverse muscle and sheer size made achieving high speeds difficult. His endurance was the only thing that allowed him to run for extended periods of time and he was regarded as a machine in that aspect. He would continuously speed to halts as he tried to manoeuvre around obstacle only to fail, he even tripped once or twice on the way to the planes. His ankles and knees held firm despite his blatant bad running form, a bonus of his strength was to be removed of muscular and bone issues.

Eventually, he reached his bag, sat at one of the trees at the entrance of the forest. He'd situated it at the border of planes and trees. Not a trill to spare, he slung it over his shoulder and bolted back into the forest, not even beginning to feel tired. At full throttle, he bombed forward toward the beach where his mage-fish friend resided... Hopefully. He could only hope his instructions got through to the fish man. He might have use for him yet.

Finally, the Lothar would break through the brush of the thicket and stumble on down to the shark before speeding to a halt. "Moon, rydw i wedi dod back, aethon i casglu fy bag" he spoke again in the language that moon didn't understand, but the fish man had caught a word or two of what he was saying. "Shit!" he spoke upon remembering that Moon didn't speak common. "Me. Fridgar..." He emphasised with his paw on his chest. "Fridgar. Back..." the giant continued, pointing to the floor for some reason. "Fridgar. Got. Bag." Fridgar tried to explain pointing to the large pleated bag that he slung from his shoulder.

It would impact the floor with the thud of something impossibly heavy, Fridgar too hit the floor on one knee and wiped a streak of sweat from his brow. In fairness, his breathing had picked up a little from running the journey twice with all his added weight. He rather unceremoniously ripped the bag open to behold a variety of tools; saws, chisels, drills, scissors, bandages, towels - nearly any tool that could come to mind and not even one of them arranged. He took the towel from the bag and laid it out on the sand. "Okay, Moon." he spoke once more and rummaged through the bag for his empty vial. "Fridgar angen help..." he started and stood, handing the vial to Moon.

Beside them laid the shark they had killed together just bits prior. Fridgar felt around it's open wounds and coated his hand in the creature's blood. "Gwaed." he spoke, showing his hand coated in crimson. "Gwaaaed." he spoke slower and rubbed his hands together, spreading the blood. he then presented his bloody hands to the fish man and spoke "Gwaed." while nodding, maintaining eye contact. "Fridgar angen gwaed from shark." he spoke, pointing to the shark. "Gwaed in here." a giant paw met with the empty vial and rubbed some of the blood from his hands into the glass tube. He then walked around to the creature's head and wrapped his arms around the beast's head, moving the spear out of his way with a bat of his hand. "Barod?" He asked with a tilt of his head to Moon. "Tri, dau, un..." he spoke again and lifted the shark, or its front end at least.

With all his strength, he pressed into the sands and pulled up and the top half of the beast. Then, maintaining his pull, he lifted at the shark's head further and worked his body beneath it before pressing again and raising it onto his shoulder. The Lothar would grunt under his exertion but remembered to breath, veins bulged at the side of his head with his continued strain. Finally, with aid of his adrenaline, he shoulder pressed the top half of the shark and held it there. Blood eventually drained via gravity and poured in a steady stream onto the sand. Shakily, Fridgar's head would turn to moon and his eye would dart about to the vial, then the stream of blood. He silently prayed that the fish man got the message.
word count: 733
Whenever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure.
-- Bertrand Russell
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[Mature] Acquiring the Totem: Great White

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With Moon’s poor eyesight, Fridgar into the trees visually but moon could still hear the man bound through the woods like a charging bull. With each new crash and crack, Moon had to remind himself that the horrible noises were just how things sounded out of the water. Moon didn’t completely understand why sound traveled easier in air than it did in water, but it was dreadful.

Despite himself, Moon still sent messages asking if Fridgar was okay even though he was out of telepathic range. Seeing how the man had just survived a shark attack and proceeded to lift that shark to shore, there probably wasn’t much that would pose a threat to Fridgar. Moon was really asking for himself, to ease his doubting mind as he waited on the shore.

A weight was lifted when Moon finally heard Fridgar’s voice; the Mer could barely comprehend what was said but it didn’t matter. The mer flexed his cheek muscles into a subtle smile at the man, As he tried to figure out what was being said.

Moon understood the first part of their conversation after Fridgar took the time to explain it with gestures. The man had simply left to get his bag which the Mer nodded to in order to show his understanding. Moon was lost on the smaller details however, like why the bag was needed or why it was left in the woods. Not wanting to over complicate things moon didn’t bother to ask these questions.

The bag fell to the ground with a large thud that startled Moon but the mer quickly found himself leaning closer to see what could possibly be inside. Fridgar continued to pull out all manner of tools that compelled moon to tilt his head in confusion. Moon’s sensory tentacles moved hesitantly towards the bag like a heard to slithering snakes ready to pounce on their prey. When Fridgar lifted his head back up, his appendages sprang back and moon tried his best to look casual.

Fridgar tried to explain that he needed assistance and did so using the visual aid of shark blood. An odd choice, and one that definitely confused Moon at first but it slowly made sense.

<<Blood? what for?>>
Moon finally asked, His telepathic message came with images of blood to show that they were on the same wave length in that regard but there was still much left to understand.

Moon suspected that this was to do with magic, given their earlier conversation on the subject. It was more or less what magic could be conjured with the blood of a simple shark. The Mer still didn’t understand what magic fridgar even possessed, only that he was very strong and capable of great feats of healing.

Fridgar demonstrated his strength again and lifted the shark even further on to shore. Moon looked onward hesitantly, not knowing what was intended until Fridgar turned back and gave moon a look. Moon looked at the vial that Fridgar had given him and saw the streams of blood spewing from the beast and the connection was made. The mer stumbled from his seated position and clumsily hurried to collect the blood into the small vial.

<< Fuck!>>
Moon exclaimed as the blood began to over flow from the tiny bottle. He pulled it out and presented it to Fridgar with another smile, hoping to get the same reaction as the tooth.

<<What do shark now?>>
Moon asked for his next task for what ever ritual they were doing. So far Fridgar had a tooth and the sharks blood, Moon hoped he didn’t need an eye since the mer had already made short work of one of them.
Last edited by Moon on Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:28 pm, edited 3 times in total. word count: 625
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[Mature] Acquiring the Totem: Great White

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As Fridgar had fully unloaded his tools, it appeared that one of his fish friend's strands of... hair... was checking out his stuff? The Lothar couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He hadn't pegged Moon to be a thief, but he was more than ready to deal with one such disturbance if needed be.

Soon enough, the fish-dude understood that he needed blood and agreed to help him? Sorta? "Magic!" Fridgar explained with a grin, that was a word that Moon understood, he could remember. Maybe a one-word explanation wouldn't suffice, but it would make sense the next trial. The Lothar went on to pour the shark of all its contents and moon understood what he had to do, bottling the blood Fridgar had requested. Once he could see it was full, Fridgar pushed into the shark and quickly stepped out from under it, letting it slam to the sand with a sudden burst of sand spraying at the pair's shins.

Fridgar would smile, overjoyed with the progress they were making. "Yeah!" he exclaimed, sort of crouching his body slightly with his arms ready, blatantly pumped. "Now Skin." Fridgar explained, pinching at his scarred flesh. "Skin..." He went on to rub his arms and face, any visible patch of skin in case Moon didn't understand the word. "Skin." he held a clawed thumb up with an assuring nod. He would re-cork the bottle that moon had filled before setting it to one side with a smile at his fishy friend.

Then, he rummaged through the bag some more to retrieve his precision scissors before settling down at the Shark's side. "What is Moon?" He would ask as he sank the scissors into the shark flesh. The blade would travel in a straight line along the carcass, it was obvious Fridgar had done this a ridiculous amount of times. "Fridgar is Lotharro." he explained without looking to Moon, instead focusing on what he was doing. He did want to know more about Moon, perhaps his race would make for a useful totem? Even so, he needed this cut of skin to be perfect. When he was finished, he was left with a strip of grey skin, still moist. He set it on the towel to dry.

His hand would fish around in his pocket for the shark tooth before presenting it to Moon once more. he didn't have an overwhelming amount of bone to work with, but it was enough. The tooth was maybe two or three inches long but quite broad. He strategized a suitable crafting method while Moon did his thing. "Where from is Moon?" He asked, finally looking to the fish man expectantly. Fridgar put his hand on his chest "Fridgar from Gauthrel." specifically Nordhoff, but that was too advanced for Moon to understand, in all likelihood.

Once he'd decided on a suitable craft, he sat at the edge of the towel and readied his clamp. he would unwind the vice before closing it on the tooth firmly to hold it in place. Then, with his hand drill, he put the drill bit to the broader end of the tooth before pressing and rotating the handle clockwise. Occasionally, he would stop and blow away at the bone dust to make room for more drilling. It was a long process despite the shallowness of the insertion. Once it was complete, however, Fridgar readied the vial of blood and looked to Moon, was he at all interested in what was going on?

From what he knew of the fish dude, he was curious enough. Moon might notice that the Lothar avoided direct eye contact for reasons unknown. "Moon strong?" he would ask another question without looking at him. Then, very gently and with absolute control of his muscles, Fridgar poured the blood into the hole he'd created, filling it to the brim with ease and plenty to spare. He re-corked the vial before setting it aside once more in case he managed to fuck up somehow. By now, the strip of skin had dried out thoroughly, Fridgar seemed pleased. He readied his pot of glue and used a brush from his selection to paint the strip of skin with the adhesive.

Then, with surprisingly skilled hands, Fridgar wrapped the piece of skin over the hole in the tooth and wrapped the bone a few layers in shark leather after removing it gently from the clamp. It simply looked like a bundle of dried skin, barely any of the bone was showing. While Fridgar didn't care much about the appearance of his totems, he did care about their functionality. "Moon protect Fridgar?" He would ask with a suddenly serious expression.
word count: 794
Whenever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure.
-- Bertrand Russell
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[Mature] Acquiring the Totem: Great White

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At the cheerful mention of magic, Moon smiled faintly. It was hard not to feed off Fridgar’s enthusiasm, it wasn’t something moon encountered often, especially about magic. It was ether seen as a weapon or a curse but never something enjoyable. Fridgar’s unique perspective made the Mer feel better about his own magic which Moon had mixed feelings about. He always found magic enjoyable but there was an underling guilt he couldn’t shake. Magic was a violent and destructive force, if Moon liked it what did that say about him?

As the shark corpse hit the ground with an impressive thud, Moon stumbled back and nearly fell backwards. He was able to recover, but it was a good reminder that he still needed to work on his land legs. As much as Moon practiced walking on land it wasn’t hard to notice how shaky and unsure he was with every step. His maroon coloured legs with small spiralling tentacles popping out in random places made it hard for this flaw to go unnoticed.

<<Skin>>
Moon repeated to show that he understood what fridgar meant but also so Moon could cement the word into his memory.

Moon watched with a strained brow of focus as Fridgar skillfully collected the sharks skin. Given how easy the land dweller made it seem, Moon might think the task was easy. Though moon was familiar enough with shark skin to know how difficult it was to work with, making Fridgar’s skill all the more impressive.


<<I am Mer..no tribe..all alone>>
Moon wasn’t completely sure if these were the questions Fridgar sought but they were the only things he could think to say. His people didn’t typically have a name for themselves but Moon had spent enough time around land folk to know the word used to describe them.

<<Lotharro? Tribe of human?>> Moon was sure the man was a human even with his claws and beastly features he didn’t seem exotic to a Mer. Knowing that Fridgar was a mage only made his Lotharro like features easier to dismiss since mutations often altered appearance in unexpected ways.

Moon sat down on the sand to give his legs a rest, as fridgar became lost in mysterious thoughts. Moon found himself distracted by the feeling of sand in his hands and how it seemed to stick to everything. When fridgar suddenly spoke up again Moon dropped the clump of sand he's been playing with and looked back at the man to figure out what he wanted.

When Fridgar asked about where he came from, Moon flashed images of his life under the sea. Fridgar would see a first person perspective of the bright coral filled with all kinds of alien life, from the ethereal sea slugs to the hypnotic way the ribbon eel moved through the water. The Lotharro would see Moon’s people swimming about with their large tails of various sizes and shapes. Some were beautiful other more monstrous but all captivating in different ways.

Moon showed the crusty old pirate ship he once lived in near Rymere, followed by a flash of the ruins it became. The images were finished with a showing of Moon’s time in the Rynmer bank counting piles of copper Nil and supervising other mer as they dealt with human customers. Not much could be seen inside the city but, if Frid had spent anytime in the Rymere bank he might recognize it.

<<Gauthrel What like?>>
Other than the inside of the Rymere bank, the docks and the outside gates Moon hasn’t seen much of a city. Mer didn’t have typical settlements instead living together with little structure, this included buildings. Moon couldn’t imagine how land dwellers truly lived given how little he’d seen. As hard as Moon tried to imagine what Gauthrel looked like, he couldn’t.


Moon leaned in with interest as Fridgar worked on his strange magical craft. Without realizing, The tentacles from Moons head slithered forward to get a better understanding of the peculiar practice. Like before, the mer would retract his tentacles when Fridgar looked up and pretend like he hadn’t been looking.

<<No>>
Moon responded with little emotion to the question of his strength. Moon knew he wasn’t strong especially compared to fridgar who lifted a shark only moments ago but it wasn’t just that. Moon had been told he was weak nearly his entire life and he believed it with little doubt. When Fridgar then asked if Moon would protect him, the mer couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in disbelief.

<<Yes.. but Moon weak..Fridgar strong>>
Moon became suddenly concerned for the land dwellers mental clarity, but stayed with him regardless and waited for further explanation.
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[Mature] Acquiring the Totem: Great White

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Fridgar smiled, at last, they were making progress! The mer, or so Moon identified himself, understood him somewhat! "No tribe?" Fridgar spoke to the mer with a questioning glance. Interesting, were the mer a bunch of savage fish people or was Moon just a tribal hermit among met? All good questions that he didn't have the linguistic ability to ask. A more important question would be why Moon was alone, he didn't look like a criminal and he certainly wasn't an asshole, why was the mer alone? "Get new tribe?" Fridgar offered with a turn of his hands. It probably wasn't that simple, but he felt the need to share his advice.

Human? Oh hell no. "No." Fridgar spoke with mild irritation, "Fridgar not human". It wasn't too hard to tell that the Lothar wasn't sold on the prospect of being addressed as human, not in the slightest. How did he explain? Fridgar looked to his paws before looking back up at the mer. "Claws." he pointed to his claws, "Human not have" a single digit would lift his upper lip to reveal his fangs, "Fangs too." he informed. Sure, he sort of looked human, but he surely didn't appear as weak as one? "Lotharro different to human." he finished his explanation.

Gauthrel. Of course the curious fish dude wanted to know about his place of origin. It was just unfortunate that Fridgar knew little of the place himself, only that it was dangerous and that he was born there. "Scary." would suffice. If the mer wanted more, he was asking the wrong Lothar.

On the topic of bad fortune, Moon had revealed himself to be weak, or so he claimed. He would just have to pray that the mer could at least scare off any would-be attackers with his fancy tentacle legs. "Fridgar sleep. Fridgar sleep for Dauddeg Pedwar break." he explained, though he was unsure how far the mer could count in common. "Protect Fridgar. Not wake." The Lothar built on his instructions, but remained uncertain of his companion's ability to understand or perform. The Lothar would smile gently to the met, almost pleading with his eye before sitting cross-legged in the sand and holding the fresh totem.

His focus would fill the piece of craft, channelling his soul through the three substances as he went. The rest of the world slowly faded from his eye and eventually his ears. His heart slowed down to a crawl and so did his breathing as he needed a trance of meditation. His awareness of the immediate area drifted too with the fading of his sense of smell and taste, finally, his sense of touch disappeared too. All that filled the Lothar's world was the totem and his ether, slowly making the beast join his ranks.
word count: 476
Whenever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure.
-- Bertrand Russell
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[Mature] Acquiring the Totem: Great White

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Moon’s face drained of energy as he nodded at Fidgar’s statement. The Mer wanted to convey that finding a tribe wasn’t an easy task but Moon knew the language barrier made it difficult to convey something so complicated. It was best to leave those sort of things alone.

<<I not know, I sorry>>
Assuming Fridgar was human was clearly not the right approach. Even a socially awkward savage could sense the touch of irritation in fridgar’s usually smiling face as he corrected him. Though Moon knew of many mer who would be absolutely disgusted if someone thought they were human. Moon would have to be careful not to assume someones race in the future no matter how human they might look to him.

<<claws and fangs too>>
Moon presented his webbed hands to Fridgar and opened his mouth to show the many rows of tiny pointed teeth. Nether was quite as lethal looking as fridgar’s, by simply looking at them Moon knew they would do a lot more damage than his natural weapons. When Fidgar described the city of Gauthrel as “scary” the lotharro’s claws and fangs put the word into perspective. If his people were born with claws and fangs it was likely for a reason. Moon had no idea where this place was but it was a place he would make sure to avoid.

<<I..will>>
Moon replied hesitantly to Fridgar’s request before he had really thought it through. Moon almost immediately regretted his answer but had no idea how to dig himself out of the hole he just made for himself. If he was selfish he might be able to simply leave Fridgar to his own devices but unfortunately he wasn’t, at least not that much. So the mer sat there, watching the sleeping man and stressing over every little thing. How many breaks would this take, what threats would he face, how long could he stay on land before it was too late. It was an agonizing long wait but thankfully nothing dire happened. Fridgar simply woke up and the two parted ways.

Moon grabbed his spear and headed towards the small grotto he had transformed in only a trial earlier. As he crawled his way in, he even noticed residue from his previous cocoon. As much as moon would rather prolong the drawn out transformation, it was better not to wait. Every Mer knew that terrible things happened if you spent too long on land.

Moon breathed in and focused his mind on nothing but slime, the feeling on his skin, the texture and how it looked. it would take quite a bit of time to show up but he could already feel it tingling under his skin. When it finally showed up he would start rubbing it off his skin and start gathering it into his cocoon.
Last edited by Moon on Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:07 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 481
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[Mature] Acquiring the Totem: Great White

Thread Rewards
Moon

Overview

I even went back to read the previous thread so I could see how you two met! Haha. I can only imagine how confusing the world out of water is for a mer, and I think you portray it well as Moon. Too bad Fridgar didn’t get to see you do your own shape-changing! Ha.

Points

XP: 15 | These points cannot be used for magic.

Fame:
N/A

Loot

N/A

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge:
Discipline: Patience is a virtue
Linguistics: Repeating words to understand their meaning.
Metamorphosis: Thinking of nothing but slime.
Metamorphosis: The tingling feeling that shows you're doing it right.
Metamorphosis: Dire consequences if you stay on land too long.

General Knowledge:
Fridgar: A very strong Lotharro
Fridgar: Has a strange magic.
Lotharro: Not a tribe of humans
Lotharro: have claws and fangs.
Fridgar

Overview

I enjoyed reading the slight language barrier because I’m nerdy that way. It was humorous to imagine hulking Fridgar pantomiming all the things to his “fish friend.” Rawr. Shark shape attained!

Points

XP: 15 | These points can be used for magic.

Fame:
N/A

Loot

Totem of the Great White Shark

Knowledge

None requested.
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Rakahi | Rakahi Pidgin | Common | Xanthean

Because of his Competency in Empathy magic, Pash exudes an aura of calm emotion that is always "on." While it's not strong enough to overcome extreme emotions and it also loses strength the more people he's around, it's still up to you how that affects your character in whatever situation we're in. PM with questions!
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