Nightmare World (freeko)

[Tassadar]

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

Darkness was coming. It had only been hours since the caravan in which she'd been caged had been assaulted by creatures or people that she hadn't seen. The men who had captured her, raped her, had been fighting when she had ran, an errant strike from their mysterious attackers breaking the lock on the cage she'd been in. Sierra had barely been able to grab a few items as she ran, a few scraps of leather to serve as better clothing than the rags she'd had and a steel gauntlet that would serve as a weapon.

She hadn't had to use it yet. Despite the legendary dangers of the Amazonian jungle in which she'd found herself, the only thing she'd run into so far were bugs and flora, leaving her blessedly unmolested. She had no food, however, and no clean water that might quench the thirst she'd built up during her flight. Her captors had given her enough sustenance to survive, but not enough to keep up her strength, and with the adrenaline of her escape faded exhaustion was quickly building up.

Stepping through a stand of thick, short trees, Sierra found herself looking over a dense, bog. Frogs and insects let out their cries louder and in greater frequency here, a shift from the calls of birds and beasts that had drowned out the smaller creatures in the jungle behind her. Mosquitoes were buzzing around her immediately, and the dirt path that she'd been walking on turned to soft, moss-covered mud. The trees here were smaller and more sparse than the denser jungle trees she'd been used to, many of them showing gnarled trunks near the base where they dropped into the shallow water before her. There were no signs of civilization here, nor any obvious signs of food, drinkable water, or shelter. It was the first change of scenery that she'd encountered so far, however, the jungle having just been an incomprehensible maze of trees in which she could have easily become lost. Night was falling fast, however, and with her time before dark fading she would have to choose whether she wanted to try to keep moving despite the danger of nocturnal predators, or find someplace safe to wait out the darkness.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

"I should stop here and try to find myself a tree that can support me." Sierra mumbled to herself when confronted with the choice of venturing further into the unknown. She knew that being out in the open was what got her captured in the first place, and this newfound freedom was something she did not readily wish to surrender again. So venturing further into the darkness was just not an option in her mind. For all she knew, she may very well be heading in the same direction as whatever it was that had attacked the caravan.

"No, my safest option here is to hide in the trees for now." Sierra again mumbles. However free she now was, the reality of the situation she was in was not lost on her. Again mumbling to herself,"This looks like it will do." Sierra begins her ascension of the tree she identified and to the set of branches that would be her resting spot for the time being.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

After a while, Sierra would find a tree that she could sleep in, an older one with thick enough branches that she might be able to perch on one for the night, not an easy thing to find in the jungle as many of the trees were tall and narrow. Still hungry and thirsty, she would ascend the branches, climbing from one to the next until she was high enough that she would be safe from most nocturnal predators. Hopefully.

It wasn't exactly a comfortable arrangement, but it was tolerable. She would merely have to put up with the innate discomfort of sleeping on a tree branch, having insects (especially mosquitoes) buzzing around her all night, and the danger of trying to keep herself from tumbling out of her perch in her sleep. Needless to say, Sierra's sleep would not be very restful, but it would be better than nothing.

When she awoke the next day, however, she would find herself in a spot of trouble. At the base of her tree, a jungle raptor was slowly pacing back and forth. The vaguely reptilian creature was about four feet tall at the top of its head, the majority of its scales covered in short, soft feathers that were mostly brown, gray, and green to camouflage it save for the bright red plumage on its head that marked it as a male. Sierra had grown up hearing of such creatures, deadly predators who defended their territory harshly and considered humans as prey just like anything else. Many of the more civilized areas had wiped them out or driven them away, but evidently not so in the Pfitherian jungle. Armed with powerful claws on its hands, razor sharp teeth, and deadly talons on its feet, it would be extremely dangerous if it could get to her, which it presently couldn't thanks to the choice of bedding.

The creature couldn't, for now, but it was also pacing right below her, its head turned up toward her as it patiently strolled back and forth.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

"This could be worse.."Sierra almost jokingly mutters to herself when she becomes aware of what is waiting for her should she simply descend back down to the ground. So the next course of action for Sierra would simply be which of her basic instincts she followed, fight or flight.

On one hand she knew that the trees would mostly support her as she tried to move along them far enough to possibly simply evade the raptor entirely. The inherent problem is that the raptor already knows she is there, and it would be naïve of her to think it would simply let her go. It was obvious that Sierra was not in the best condition to fight either, so would it simply be better to try to get out of this somehow?

The other hand would be trying to put her ability to the test. She had the advantage of the high ground for the time being. She could use this and attempt a gambit by simply trying to take the raptor by surprise and leap down to attack. This Sierra thought would be nothing more than suicide, and a complete waste of her newfound freedom. The stories of what she had heard tempering her thoughts of attempting something rather rash given her situation.

Sierra is not seemingly in imminent danger, so taking a little time to asses this situation further looks like the best option. The best option for now looks like trying to use the trees further as a method of escape. Sierra knew that she was able to maneuver about the trees to get to where she presently was, so she would also attempt to use these trees as her primary method of escape if nothing else were to present itself as a solution. If she did see a way out of this, she would attempt to take it. Flight before fighting seems to be the better course of action.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

Opting to attempt to use the trees to escape rather than go down and face the raptor waiting at the base of her tree, Sierra would have to climb up to the canopy if she wanted to travel along the tree branches. It was a dangerous climb, though no less dangerous than going down and trying to fight or flee, but a manageable one. The reptilian beast watched her curiously from the jungle floor, its head tilting this way and that as it craned its neck to get a view of its escaping prey, until finally she could no longer see it through the branches below her.

The tree she had climbed was one of the few with low hanging branches, but even here those were few and far between, requiring her to climb using only her limited strength and the grip provided by the bark of the tree. It was tiring, and took a while, but eventually she was at the canopy, affording her not only a potential escape route but the ability to gaze over the tops of the trees to see what might lie around her. She was free, at that point, to pick a direction to travel in or to pause and take a look around. The raptor couldn't get her where she was.

The immediate area included the way she had come, back towards the road where the slaver caravan had been ambushed, and the swamp directly ahead of her, but if she took a few minutes to look around over the treetops she might spot something more interesting. Alternatively, she could simply pick a direction and go, perhaps to get away from the hungry predator waiting below her. Food and water would become an issue soon, however, and while she might find the former up on the tops of the trees, the latter would be hard to find unless she was particularly familiar with the environment.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

"There has to be something better than the swamp. I would rather go back to the caravan at this point than go into the swamp. Surely someone at this point would have realized that the caravan did not arrive wherever it was going and possibly start to send out someone to look for it." Though that thought was tempered by the obvious to her realization that it would not be a very savory lot sent to assess the situation with the caravan. Though it would still be a likely place to consider going as there was food and water there at least up to the point that the caravan was attacked.

Sierra did not really like either of these options as she lamented over them. Go back to the caravan, and she would likely run into the same type of scum and villainy that enslaved her in the first place. Going forward into the swamp was something she did not really care for yesterday, and her situation has not really changed that much to make it any more appealing of a destination now. Given her present situation however, the overriding issue was to find herself a source of water.

Sierra knew that this was an unfamiliar area to her, so taking the time to look around first to find a source of water was the first priority. So long as the raptor would no longer be an issue to moving toward any water source that was found, she would move that way.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

Rising above the trees, Sierra would be able to see for long ways around her present position, though most of the landscape would be hidden by the canopy of trees. She would at least be able to see the contours of the land, however, including the relatively sparse trees present in the swamp ahead of her compared to the jungle, a steep hill crowned in short trees present a good ways to the East, and to the Southwest there was a line without trees. That might very well be a river, and that it was winding towards the swamp she sat near increased that likelihood. It turned and widened or thinned randomly far too much to be a road, at least, and it wasn't far away.

The branches of the nearby trees were close enough for her to climb to, but some of them would require jumping if she wanted to go quickly, or a lot of tiring climbing if she wanted to be more cautious. A glance down would confirm that the raptor was still waiting for her, looking up curiously and tilting its head this way and that.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

This choice was not really much of a choice in all fairness. The situation really leaves no options here that Sierra was willing to contemplate. Water is what matters, though passing up food just to get to water would be a very bad idea. So Sierra starts thinking "I think I can see things that are edible near the tops of these trees, and worst case scenario is that I could throw some of those down and placate the raptor enough to get away from it."

So the plan was hatched. Sierra would try to maneuver herself toward what she believed to be a river toward the southwest while trying to both attempt to gather food for herself and throw down things toward the raptor in a direction that would potentially draw it away from her. Since the tops of the trees were both the safest route and where she believed that she saw things that might end up being edible, she would try to focus on being more careful than graceful as she did not want anything to do with the raptor. Aside from possibly throwing a few things down either at it or near it to lead it in a direction away from where she was going.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

Rolls

Spoiler

Perception: Failure.

Proceeding towards the river via the treetops was hard going. Sierra had little time to looking for food while carefully climbing from branch to branch, and nearly fell from her dangerous perch more than once. The raptor didn't follow her for long before it got bored and wandered off, but that didn't really make the going any easier, and she didn't get lucky enough to stumble upon anything that looked edible unless she wanted to try eating some of the spiders or bugs she shared the trees with. There were plentiful signs of other animals, to be sure, but all of them seemingly detected her before she got anywhere near them and either fled or hid, and she didn't luck upon any abandoned nests or other easy potential meals before she reached the river.

Eventually Sierra would heard the sound of running water over her own noise, and a few moments later she would see a steadily running line of dark brown water winding its way through the jungle ahead of her. The current was swift, and much of the shore around the narrow waterway was steep and unstable, but not too far away was a slope leading down to a sandy, if slightly rocky, beach that would let her get to the water without any obvious danger. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only person there, though she hadn't yet been noticed thanks to the preoccupation of the people present. A young man was sitting by the bank, holding a long wooden rod with a piece of string dangling off of it over the water and humming to himself while a young woman busied about, gathering stones and building a circle. Both were wearing the same style of clothing, loose folded vests with no sleeves and light pants that widened around their feet, all in grey but with symbols engraved over their hearts that Sierra couldn't read from so far away and with so much vegetation between her and the people that she was viewing. Both had short dark hair drawn into buns on the back of their heads and held there by crossed wooden sticks, the woman differentiable by her figure and stature more than by looks alone.

Despite how clumsy she was up in the trees Sierra hadn't been noticed yet, thanks largely due to their distraction with their tasks and the competing noise of the rushing river. What she wanted to do with that advantage, however, would be up to her to decide. She was still several trees away from both the people and the shore, and could (most likely) easily slip off without ever being detected if she wanted to.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Sierra sighed that she was finally away from the raptor, and also that other near immediate concerns could be dealt with as well. Finally finding a source of water was a very good thing. Another thing she happened to notice was the fishing pole that the male was holding. So that would potentially address the other basic need of food potentially.

However there was one little issue, how to approach these two? Were there more nearby? Her curiosity was what got her into the situation that she was just freed of a single day ago. Their method of dress was clearly unfamiliar to her, as was the hairstyle.

Sierra sensing no imminent danger figured it could be to her advantage to just simply watch them further. If nothing else she could try to approach them if and or when they were looking like making an attempt to leave. Otherwise possibly trying to see where any fish or other food stuffs were at would be another option if these people were to just not notice her.

Sierra felt like simply approaching them and asking them for help was probably going to be the play, but it was still best for her to stay away from them for the time being. The worst that could happen is that she gets spotted, and would promptly try to approach them and explain what exactly had happened to her. However they didn't need to know all of it, just that her caravan was attacked and that she had escaped from something that was pursuing her through the jungle by way of being in the trees. They certainly did not need to know anything about what she was doing with that caravan.

(tl;dr: she would look about from the trees to see if she could find anything of use before attempting to approach them)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

Choosing to remain back and watch the pair, Sierra would be able to pick out a pair of packs, both no doubt full of supplies. After a few moments that would be confirmed when the girl went over to one and opened it, pulling out a few pieces of dried fruit and fresh vegetables before sealing it again. She set them aside on some rice paper, placing a small knife down as well, before going to the other pack and retrieving a cup and a bag of rice, scooping up some of the latter with the former. The unprepared food was set beside the young man as he fished, who set about cutting the vegetables with one hand while watching his fishing rod.

"Catch anything yet?" the girl asked suddenly while she was setting up a formation of wood and kindling, no doubt for a fire.

"Not yet!" the boy replied, but then gave a startled gasp and yanked back the fishing rod, "spoke too soon! I think I've got a bite!" A few moments later he turned out to be right, as he had pulled a nice, fat catfish out of the water. It had barbs along its face and running down its spine, but the young man used a narrow bladed knife that he drew from his belt to jab under the barbed fish's chin, causing it to go still after one last shiver.

"That should be enough for the two of us, don't you think?" he said cheerfully, and then folded up his fishing gear and brought the half-prepared meal over to the fire pit that the woman was building. "With how you eat?" the girl replied dryly with a roll of her eyes, but then went down to the river to gather up some water to boil for the rice. It was as she was rising up to return to the side of the fire pit, where the young man was gutting the fish he'd caught, that she turned and spotted Sierra hanging up in the trees.

"Koichi! In the trees!" she barked sharply, hastily throwing aside the water. The young man was on his feet and looking right at her a heartbeat later, and both of them shifted carefully into differing stances as they obviously readied for her to attack them.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Sierra almost lets out a sigh of relief that the female was the one that spotted her first, and the reaction that they had made was one of someone who was not expecting any manner of company. Though the quick nature in which they sprung to action made it clear they were also well prepared to deal with any invaders. At this point Sierra realized that her best bet to simply deal with being tired, hungry, and borderline dehydrated would be to appeal to them for help.

"About time you saw me, I guess it takes a raptor crashing through the trees to get your attention? Sierra says almost mockingly to the male.

"You however at least spotted me, but your posture tells me you think me your enemy? Sierra more respectfully addresses the unknown female.

"No, I am only looking for water.. and food." Sierra simply concedes the situation for her is not exactly a good one with her tone.

"I have been running for days now from an unknown enemy that attacked the caravan I was travelling with. I have run out of food and water, I do not know where I am truth be told, and I have been in the trees ever since I encountered a raptor yesterday. Sierra states this to both in an attempt to curry favor or pity from the pair. She realizes that her fate is probably in their hands and there is little that she can do about it at this point.

"I am in no condition to fight you, so lets allay that fear right now. If I wanted to attack, I already would have." Sierra goes back to addressing the female more so than the male at this point. It should be clear to most anyone, if they were watching this, that she is trying to appeal to the female for help. How she would respond back would very likely dictate how this all will play out.

Sierra knew that if she had to, a fight would work out badly for her, but she would rather that then be imprisoned again.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

The man gave a surprised frown at Sierra's insult, taken aback. The woman frowned, and she only relaxed slightly as Sierra approached, and spun her tale. Neither spoke to interrupt her, listening carefully, but as she seemed to address the woman Sierra would notice the man was keeping an eye out behind her, suspiciously. Once Sierra had finished talking, however, he again concentrated the majority of his attention upon her while his companion replied to her.

"You were part of a caravan, you say? From where? And how did you get all the way here? These grounds are not commonly tread by outsiders," she said suspiciously, "surely you didn't come all the way from the nearest road along the trees?"

"We have extra food," the man interrupted, "but before we can offer you any.... What is your name? I am Koichi, Koichi Funai... And my companion is Kayami Kawashima."

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

"I am an Amazon, and we generally are all of the same family so we only have one given name. My name is Sierra." Sierra starts off with the introduction. Sierra then turns her head to address the male again.

"You look as if you are afraid of something, or is it someone?" Sierra starts to address the male. "I certainly hope that the jungle raptor I think it is called, is not pursuing me any longer. I awoke this last morning from sleeping in the trees to that basically waiting below me." Sierra continues on, shifting her focus back toward addressing the female.

"The caravan I was travelling with was a matter of.. circumstance, as I never really asked where it was going or where it was from. I was in a car of the caravan when the attack happened, and I was seemingly lucky to have been able to escape as I saw people being slaughtered all around me." Sierra hoped that she would not get questioned further on this. She gave enough information to answer the question and that was all she would care to say on the matter.

"I was able to grab this glove thing while I was running, but I am not one to use many weapons. I am a gatherer, not a hunter. Though I guess I could fight if it comes down to it. We generally grapple amongst each other as a symbol of superiority as a part of the Amazon way. So all of us know how to do that, though not all of us can use a bow or whatever other fairy tale there is about the Amazons." Sierra starts to wander a bit with her words, possibly just to cover for her mistake earlier.

"As for being in the trees, I quite like being in the trees. Not many things will bother you there. Certainly not as many that would bother you if you were to be in an unfamiliar place and just sleeping on the ground. It actually reminds me of home for the most part with this jungle here. The trees are very different, but they still offer me the same protection that the trees from home would. I would probably be nothing more than food for that thing, that I believe was a jungle raptor, that was roaming around underneath me for the better part of today." Sierra starts to speak a bit more confidently than she was before.

"If you have other questions, I will answer them as best I can. If you don't mind though, it has been at least a full day now that I have not had any real food or water. I fear I am just rambling on now. " Sierra again tries to curry some manner of favor toward the duo.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

The pair listened as Sierra went over her story, reacting at various points in various ways. The male, later introduced as Koichi, would frown again as Sierra continued to belittle him by suggesting that he was afraid, but refused to bite back at her still. The woman, Kayami, offered a slightly suspicious look overall as Sierra spoke of being in a cart in the caravan, but then grabbing the steel gauntlet she'd taken and fleeing before anyone could pursue her. She might not be technically lying, but it was obvious that the woman at least found her story a little bit far fetched. Her comments about her tribe's practices, regarding grappling and the myth about bow use, did at least seem to lend some credence to her origins, and thus seemed to assuage a tiny hint of Kayami's distrust.

"A lone raptor?" she asked once Sierra had finished, ignoring her repeated request for food, "they travel in packs. Why would only one be under the tree?" The male, who seemed more sympathetic to Sierra's plight despite her derision toward him earlier, would reply before Sierra could, "that's not always true. It could have been a lone male, or the rest of the pack could have been elsewhere." Relaxing slightly despite his companion's continued misgivings, the man gestured Sierra forward and knelt back beside the food he'd been working to prepare.

"As I said, we have more than we need.... Here, have some water first. While we wait for the food, you can tell us more... We are from Ironrose, the monastery to the West, and can take you there tomorrow. Our might be able to help you better there!" he continued, and the woman frowned and approached to stand next to him, also waiting for Sierra to approach.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

"We have stories among our tribes that are fairly similar, and I have done it myself. When we become of age, we are sent out alone and cannot return to the tribe for 3 days. When this happens, it also determines if you were to become a hunter or a gatherer among the tribe. That may be why I only encountered one of those things."

Sierra is starting to get a litte frustrated now. Possibly a little bit of the hunger and thirst mixing in with telling the same tale almost 3 times now. Sierra starts to approach the pair, and moves in a manner as such that she tries to keep the other female between her and the male as much as possible. Sierra really makes no attempt to hide this from the pair.

"You could always go into the wild for a few days and see how appealing it is to encounter a creature that you have only ever heard second hand stories about. Nevermind that there was one, but I did not really care for trying to stick around and seeing if there were more. Combat is not my forte... I mean I can fight.. But I made the choice to become a gatherer, not a hunter." Sierra obviously tripped herself up at the end there with her words.

"What is a monastery? These lands are all unfamilar to me. The jungle is somewhat similar, but nothing like it was where I grew up."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

"Eheh, and you became a gatherer?" Koichi said, his interest apparently earnest as he attempted to steer the conversation away from suspicion and tragedy. Someone less paranoid where members of the male sex were concerned might have found his friendly attitude charming, but Sierra was apparently too scarred by her recent bout with unkind captivity to be one such person. Despite his efforts, however, Kayami continued to look upon Sierra with distrust, even if it was somewhat lessened.

"Never seen a raptor? I couldn't imagine.... Even I had seen one, back in my village, though it was dead at the time," she said, but then quirked an eyebrow as Sierra confessed to not even knowing what a monastery was. "It is.... A center of learning, among other things, for us settled folk. How far was your tribe from here, if you don't even know this?" she asked, but before she could answer Kayami would add, "it's where we were sent as the second children, to learn the ways of honor, contemplation, and harmony... Along with the arts of battle of course! Oh, here, you must be thirsty!"

He would hold up a waterskin, offering it to Sierra, but she was free to take it or refuse it, giving whatever excuse she liked for the latter option. Her desire to keep the woman between herself and more friendly male was hardly something difficult for her to do, even if it would earn a confused look from Koichi. The suspicious Kayami would at first appear even more distrustful of her perplexing actions, but after a few moments a look of comprehension seemed to pass over her, and her suspicion vanished in favor of a carefully kept blank look. The male would largely leave Sierra to her own devices while preparing a meal, which the woman quickly moved to help him with, though she didn't speak to her companion and announce whatever might have erased her suspicions as far as Sierra could discern.

After a little while, Sierra would be passed a bowl of white rice mixed with chopped vegetables and a portion of fire-cooked fish, a hearty meal if a modest one, and one that she might have been unfamiliar with depending on how primitive her originating village had been. The other two would eat as she did, offering little ceremony but not consuming theirs quickly or ravenously in any capacity, and if Sierra let her hunger get a hold of her she might catch Koichi watching her with a carefully suppressed look of amusement while Kayami looked on with the same carefully constructed neutral look that she'd adopted since Sierra had started keeping her distance from Koichi obviously.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Sierra does not refuse the water offered her, nor the food. At this point Sierra would have settled for the slop she was being given in captivity. Sierra at least did not embarrass herself by acting like a starving dog jumping at the first sight of food or water. After having her fill she would start up again and retort what was said before the food and water were offered to her.

"As for being a gatherer, its more a caste than anything. I was never really all that good compared to the others in my tribe when it came to fighting. The only other real option would have been to have become a child bearer, and it seems that I cannot have any children. So I really did not have much of a choice in the matter. Sierra almost incoherently rambled on about it for a little while longer and then changed her focus toward the woman.

For the raptor, it was not my place to guard against wandering creatures or groups of people. Nor was it my place to hunt so I would generally stick toward the fields that were safer and gather needed things. That was my place." Sierra again drones on longer on the subject, while saying nothing of any real relevance. Her last change in conversational focus would be to where she is, and where she was.

"If I had to guess, I would say that I am much further west of where my tribe would be. The last I looked to the stars to try to see where I might be, would have been a long time ago. Just knowing how the jungle here is different than what it would be back there is enough to know that I am far from my tribe." Sierra made a point not to call her tribe as her home. This would possibly be worth exploring if someone were astute enough to pick up on it. Sierra was certainly speaking alot more clearly and precisely now that she was free of the hunger and thirst that had been holding her back before. It seemed like Sierra started to sense that it was not only herself that was hiding something at this point.

((I wrote this horribly, I am probably redoing this post. If I do not get to it by the time you update, then meh I guess. Just a fair warning that I might redo this))

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Spoiler

Sierra: HP = 85, PP = 97, EP = 28, Status = Fine

"Child bearer? That's.... Really just a job where you come from?" Koichi asked, perplexed, but at that Kayami briefly ceased her suspicious gaze in order to roll her eyes at her companion, "don't be an idiot! We've learned about the customs of some of the tribes around here from Master Aldivus! And don't be so insensitive, she just confessed to something that's important you dunce!" She seemed to consider the matter settled when Koichi looked slightly ashamed, after which they would eventually have their meal and Sierra would say something to change Kayami's suspicion to something else entirely.

After they had eaten, Sierra managing to restrain herself, Kayami would take Sierra's dishware from her quickly when Koichi moved to do the same, handing the man the used utensils and bowls so that he could go wash them out in the river. Kayami would orient herself towards Sierra as she continued explaining things about her home culture, listening to the former slave's rambling without interrupting and at least feigning interest. "Have you... Been gone from the rest of your tribe long?" she asked hesitantly, obviously choosing her words with care.

 

[freeko]

Re: Nightmare World (freeko)

Sierra attempts to speak in a manner as such only the woman can hear.

"Amazons have a different way of living, at least with how I have been raised. However to answer your last question, I can not answer you. Not completely."

Sierra goes on for a while longer about how Amazon pride in relation to her tribe works. She then goes on to say that while everything she has said has been true, it should be obvious that it was not the full answer either.

"The only way I could answer you, is if I respect you either as an Amazon or a warrior. Since you are not an Amazon that wont work, so here is the choice. Either defeat me in a grappling contest to gain my respect as a Warrior, or just go no further with that question."

What Sierra did not readily mention was that these contests were both what she was raised on in the amazon way, and that these contests are all about sexual dominance. If her challenge was accepted, or at least inquired about further then this would become known. No punching, kicking, weapons, or anything of that sort. Whoever brings the opponent into an orgasm, is the winner. Sierra would offer full disclosure on everything, if she were defeated. If Sierra were to win however, the matter would be closed with no further information being given. Sierra would expect to have more information about the monastery that was mentioned before if she were to win.

Sierra could not care less about the male watching, though this could prove to show her the relation between the two people who were generous enough to offer her food. In her own twisted way, this would show her the intentions of the hospitality given to her.