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[color=cornsilk][h1] SUN KISSED [/h1]


The scraggly body of the village cook wandered from the tent in a groggy state, holding a small, bright chicken in his hands with all the tenderness of a prime breed cat. Whatever was going on, he was hardly paying attention, his mind unable to give more than a vacant stare at the crowd of people and shifting plates as he took his spot in the crowd. It's only after the third plate came out did he flicker with a sudden, oncoming alarm, followed by a rising smile that masked the worry poorly. Once he heard the explanation, he gripped onto Little Love, his chicken and curled around her a bit as some others peeked at it and him. His attempts to hide it poorly.

[i]"We can make it. We just need to scramble and get to it"[/i] He assured out loud, emboldened by Waking Lions suggestions, which he agreed with thoroughly, almost too eagerly as if he was more supportive of anything being said than panic or emergency rations. He made sure to lower the chicken behind the crowd, his head peering over Lion's shoulder as he said it. Just in case they provoke a moment of sacrifice from him.
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[color=azure][h1] The Elders Word [/h1]

The bald one turned to Waking Lion's words, giving by the kind of eyes you can be choked with if you gave them even a hint that you may be speaking out of term or ill will, a glare he gave to all youngers that talked to him. The hidden gaze of the hooded lady and the still glare of the masked of Mononno judged them both, almost as if they were like little kids that spoke in the middle of a poker game, before they turned to each other. The masked one hurled a rocky voice voice at them, gravelly and tense[i] "If we let criminals take without violence, Monono will be displeased with us. We have been punished enough"[/i] He pointed at Waking's and Sun's direction, scoldingly.

[i]"We must track down these criminals and [color=red][b]KILL[/b][/color] them"[/i] He stops and for a moment the bald elder gives him the same look he just gave the Sun Kissed and Lion, while the hooded woman stays silent. As if spurned on to justify himself to his peers and the village he repeats[i] "Is it not said, by the Smasher of Skulls 'Of those that steal, give them to him' and furthermore I remember he demands they be strangled"[/i] He knocks on his mask, making a hard, bongo like sound as he does, as if to beat his chest[i] "Go on. Defy his commands, show him we suffer theft. See how that goes"[/i]


The hooded woman scratched her hairy chin in thought before saying in a simple shrill[i] "I suppose we could try to gather food. Many places near aren't explored properly, if we can find an extra source of food...some trees....new game....maybe with that and the lake...and rationing...we could survive while the farmers renew the soil. If we're together, we can do anything"[/i] She nods to herself at the end, as if she said something sagely and religious in and of itself to counter the masked one recitations. 

But the tattooed leader slowly turns to them with a silent uncertainty [i]"The food they took was great. And the mouths they had can only be so big, finding the thieves may let us reclaim some of our stores. Enough to survive. They were only on foot. I call upon the young of the tribe, to make a choice"[/i] He stops and he points at the crowd, waiting for those willing to step out and be chosen. He always does this though, he will start choosing himself if none do so. Perhaps it was merely a test of character and commitment from the old man.


[i]"Do we please vengeance and try to gather back what was taken, stop this from happening again?"

"or shall you venture forth and expand our claim. The young who will go on this trek must choose, for the rest of us must remain and try to recuperate and ensure what we can of the tribe will survive the coming famine"[/i]
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