Tim Vernil - Tuesday morning still - Tim's Landing
Tim had just killed an Ursa. His first Grimm kill. How did he feel about it? How did he feel right now?
"Ugh." He said sickly.
Not very well.
It wasn't the Grimm kill that was making him feel bad. That particular event was far from his mind. He was currently headbutting a tree, trying to abate his headache. It wasn't major, but it was unpleasant, to say the least, and he was feeling a little sluggish. Despite the Ursa cushioning his fall, he'd still taken damage from it. Combining that with a lack of sleep made for a poor morning indeed.
Tim stopped headbutting the tree and turned, sighing. He let himself fall down to sit on the forest floor, leaning back in the tree as his head pounded lightly. Despite his tiredness and damage, he'd only need to wait a little to recover enough to keep going. Maybe he wouldn't be 100%, but he'd be maybe 80%. 75% would be good enough, really.
Tim took the time to relax, listening to the forest itself. Leaves rustled here and there, and if he focused hard enough, he could hear what seemed to be animal sounds in the distance. He took the time to ponder his next move, since he'd basically forgotten Ozpin's instructions while his terrified body sailed through the air.
I think he said something about crystals? Tim thought.
And we're supposed to go to the north side of the forest?After resting for about a minute, Tim got up and stretched. He was good enough to keep going for now, and he reasoned that he should get this done fast.
Still haven't found a partner yet, Tim mused as he stretched.
But I guess I should've expected that. Not a bad thing for me, anyway.Tim looked up into the sky to gauge the position of the sun. Both his dad and brother had stressed the importance of learning the cardinal directions by using the position of the sun.
The sun rises in the east. since it's morning, that means... Tim thought.
He looked up and forward in the direction of the sun and turned 90 degrees to the left.
That way, then. Tim confirmed before setting off.
Tim began walking. No reason to rush, even if he didn't have a partner. He was the first one to enter the forest and his uncoordinated launch had put him behind a little bit, so he was sure that there'd be people on the way there. And besides, he had the only partner he needed.
MJ, the ever-faithful silver sphere, was tucked under his arm. As Tim began walking, he took MJ from under his arm and began absentmindedly dribbling it as he walked. It was peaceful currently, and Tim could finally take it easy. He began whistling a tune, mainly out of boredom, as he walked deeper and deeper into the forest.
A little later - Close to a nearby cave
Tim said, troubled.
He sat on a high branch of a tree, looking down at the forest floor. Below was a group of 3 Ursa, growling and staring up at him with hatred in their eyes.
"This is quite the pickle." Tim said.
As he'd been walking along, the Ursa had come out of nowhere, taking Tim by surprise. He'd managed to get up the tree quickly thanks to his semblance and good old MJ, but he couldn't get down without them mauling him to death. Quite unfortunate too, since he'd found a cave nearby and had been planning to explore it.
"So." Tim said, still looking down at the angry Ursa.
"Let me see..."He could drop MJ on one of them and they'd probably die. But that entailed losing MJ, and it'd be awkward getting it back. The other option was to just leave, which sounded pretty good. But where to?
Back to the cave, maybe. Tim thought.
I think I could throw that far...Tim was snapped out of his musings as the tree shook underneath him. Grabbing a branch in panic, he looked down to see the Ursa clawing at the tree, likely in an attempt to take him down.
"Aw man." Tim said, getting up on his feet.
A little shaky, but he managed it. One of his hands was on the tree, the other was holding MJ. Winding it back, he marked MJ before he shot his arm forward, throwing the silver sphere back towards where he came from. The shaking was getting more violent but Tim just closed his eyes, tracking the mark's progress.
He stood like he was standing on the ground, entrusting half of his weight to each foot, though holding the branch for support. As the tree shook about, Tim felt the mark's descent suddenly stop, ascending a little before going back down. Once it'd stopped moving, Tim imagined himself. He imagined himself behind the mark, standing just as he was. As the tree shook and leaves rained down on him, he disappeared.
Tim appeared quite the ways away and found himself in front the dark gaping mouth of the cave he'd found earlier.
"Excellent." Tim said, bending down to retrieve MJ.
Tim picked up his trusty friend, dusting it off before walking into the cave. And why was he so keen on exploring this cave?
It had been conspicuous. An unexpected addition to what was ostensibly featureless forest. There were certainly other rock formations around, but Tim had a feeling something was in the cave. He'd learned to trust his instincts, and his instincts were telling him the cave was worth exploring.
As long as I do this before the bears get back, I'll be fine. Tim told himself.
Entering the cave, Tim noticed that it was really dark. He'd noticed it before, of course, but he'd also noted that it was quite small. Smaller than the cave mouth would imply it was. He could smell the distinct smell of animal fur and something foul, though to what it belonged, he wasn't sure. Judging by the three Ursa that were nearby, however, he assumed it was theirs.
As Tim walked deeper into the cave, his eyes adjusted enough to see. He saw small rocks strewn across the floor here and there, and the odd lump of... brown 'graced' the area (and air). Tim held his nose at the stench and pressed on, only to see that the cave ended shortly. It was a dead end, with nothing in sight.
Tim was about to turn around when he noticed something odd in one of the mounds of poop. Something that glowed. Tim walked over to it and bent down as far as he dared, still holding his nose. It was quite old, so the stench wasn't as bad, but it was still bad. And he had a sneaking suspicion that he'd found something interesting.
"This can't be." Tim said, eyes narrowing.
"They wouldn't out it here."With one hand, he held his nose. With the other, he put MJ on the ground and picked up a nearby long rock. Poking at the defecation released new eye-watering odors, but he kept going. Eventually, the brown gave way to a gentle glowing blue. The strange thing was finally revealed: a softly glowing blue crystal.
"Fuck." Tim said.
He had to pick it up. He knew it was a dust crystal. Even a poor family like his knew about dust. It was
the dust crystal - one of the ten Ozpin had mentioned. And now he had to pick it up.
Tim put the rock down as far from him as he could and wondered how he would do this. One part of the crystal had been exposed, so he wouldn't have to touch the poop. But that didn't mean it wouldn't smell. Tim squatted uncertainly for some time before reaching down tentatively with his left hand, he stopped when he noticed that his glove was still on.
Don't want to get this dirty... Tim thought.
He took his glove off. Both of them, for good measure. He then continued slowly reaching down to grab the crystal. Tentatively, he pinched the end of the dust crystal and pulled it out of the old pile of faeces. It slid out without a sound, one end clear blue, the other smeared with brown. The crystal was cold to the touch, but the smell. By god.
Tim had never before regretted that he was right so much as he did now.
Coughing from the sudden outpouring of odor, Tim held the crystal away from his face as he coughed in the other direction. Once his coughing fit was over, he held the poopy crystal as far away from him as possible and slowly got up, picking up MJ with his free hand. Tim held looked at the crystal with a sour expression, seriously regretting his decision.
I have to take this with me. Tim thought.
Fuck.Tim suddenly stiffened as he heard growling behind him. He slowly turned, crystal and ball in hand, to see the three Ursa coming into the cave from behind, blocking his exit.
"Shit." Tim cursed.
I took too long.Tim got up to his feet slowly. The Ursa advanced menacingly. Tim held MJ and let it fall, catching it when it bounced back up. He did this slowly, as the Ursa advanced, unsure of what to do.
I need to escape, somehow. Tim thought.
His eyes darted around, looking for an opening. The ceiling was too low to lob MJ above the Ursa and the three were large enough to block the width of the cave. They seemed to know Tim was cornered and advanced slowly. Tim kept calm, dribbling MJ regularly. When the Ursa were close enough to pounce, Tim slowed down his dribbling.
As the ball came up to his hand, the Ursa pounced.
Tim ducked quickly, ready to throw MJ at the Ursa, when he noticed the gap the jumping Ursa had made. Changing his course, he threw MJ as hard as he could through the gap. The sphere sped out of the cave, lightened by his aura, as the Ursa's mass flew through where Tim's upper torso had been. When it hit the ground, it skidded around to face Tim. Now he was really surrounded. The other two Ursa launched their attacks, each sending a claw towards Tim. Tim ducked once again, then jumped as the Ursa behind swung at him. Landing on his feet, he turned this way and that, unsure of who to face. The Ursa circled him, wary of anything he might be trying. One was in front of him to the left, the other on the right, and there was the one behind him.
Tim stepped lightly, avoiding the Ursa's attacks. One swipe at his head, he ducked. The one on his left aimed a downwards swipe. He dodged right. The ursa behind began to charge and Tim ran forward. The Ursa on the right aimed a deadly swing, intent on interrupting Tim's sprint, but they'd underestimated him. They gave him time to focus, time to come up with a plan. He could feel the mark.
Tim ducked the swing as he ran, closing his eyes, sliding forward on his bent feet. He could sense MJ's mark outside the cave, still now as it'd stopped moving. As he slid, his right hand scooped towards the floor at nothing. But Tim imagined the mark in his hand, and suddenly it was. The reassuring weight of MJ forced Tim to open his eyes. He was several meters out the front of the cave, but that wasn't far enough. He could hear the angry howls of the Ursa, and they'd come after him soon enough. However, he hadn't lost his momentum yet.
Sliding forward, he used his momentum to come back up to a standing position, running forward while dribbling MJ. His hand clutched the crystal tightly, thankfully not holding the brown parts. As he sprinted for his life, he headed into the trees. He knew there was a river close by, and he needed to wash off the scent to throw off the bears.
Seconds into the forest, he could hear the Ursa crashing through the underbrush, howling for blood. 2 to his sides one directly behind him. They were gaining quickly. Tim three MJ as he ran to the left then made as if to receive a pass. He imagined himself catching the ball and suddenly, he was. The Ursa on the left tried to turn, skidding as his uncoordinated legs thrashed the tangled bushes. It successfully turned and continued its pursuit along with its brother in the middle, but Tim was already ahead.
He'd thrown it ahead of him and blinked to it a few times, putting more and more distance between them. When Tim decided that there was enough distance between them, he threw MJ straight up. Up ahead, there was a short drop off to the other parts of the forest. Tim kept running. He could see the daylight streaming through the gaps where the trees ended, but kept running. He put on an extra burst of speed as the bears, ever in pursuit, ran to catch him. Coming to the drop off, he didn't stop. He ran and jumped forward into the air, hand extended upwards as if to catch something, before he disappeared. The Ursa skidded to a halt, crashing into each other to stop. They slowly ground to a halt on the edge of the drop off, spraying dirt over the edge, and recovered slowly, confused. Their prey had disappeared and they couldn't smell him anymore. They scoured the underbrush, looking for any sign of the tricky human. They looked over the edge to find traces of the human and found none. Disappointed and angry, they meandered off the way they came.
Tim appeared in high up in the treetops, hands held high, catching MJ before they caught a high tree branch near the top of the tree. The feeble branch couldn't support his weight, however, and broke to Tim's cursing. As he fell, he turned towards the ground and saw a thick tree branch coming to meet him. Landing with a thump, he quickly hugged the tree branch with all his might, praying that he wouldn't slip off. The tree branch dipped worryingly, taking his momentum, before slowly rising to its original position.
Tim held on for a few tense moments before breathing a sigh of relief. He tried to rise to a sitting position which was difficult while holding a silver basketball and a shitty crystal, both soaked by desperate sweat. Tim left his legs wrapped around the tree branch and pushed himself up using MJ, managing to sit up for the time building. He sighed once more in an attempt to calm his pounding heart. Thankfully, the tree was high enough for the Ursa not to notice him. He couldn't quite see them below but heard their efforts to navigate the brush. He finally relaxed when their sounds faded away into the distance and leant back against the trunk of the tree, sighing in relief.
"Finally." Tim said.
His first chase ever. It'd felt like 10 minutes of running, but it was likely only about 2. He was sure that he could've beaten them unconscious if he had both hands free but his left hand had been occupied by the glowing blue brown-stained crystal.
"So, this is a dust crystal, huh?" Tim said, analyzing the object that'd given him much grief over the last few minutes.
It was still covered in Ursa poop, so he'd have to fix that.
"Here we go again." Tim said, trying to get up.
He managed to stand on the branch, even with both hands occupied, and jumped to a branch on the other side of the tree to get a better vantage point. Looking out, he could see the river down below, below the drop off point. It was, thankfully, in the direction he was headed.
"Thank god for small mercies." Tim muttered under his breath, getting ready to throw Mj once again.
Using his aura he made the ball lighter and marked it again, since the old mark was fading. Tim threw MJ as far as he could, hoping it'd reach the riverbank. When he sensed that the mark had stopped moving, Tim imagined himself there. He disappeared and reappeared standing up with the river in front of him. Tim once again (again) sighed with relief and picked up MJ, walking slowly down to the river before squatting down and dipping the shitty crystal in the cool water.
The river flowed rapidly, washing away the blue crystal's brown stains. It was soon clean and Tim could see the blue crystal clearly. It was a rich blue color, deeply reminiscent of water. It glowed faintly, not as intense as it had in the cave. Perhaps sunlight was having an effect on it. Nevertheless, he set it down next to him before taking off his shoes, pulling up his pant legs and dipping his tired feet into the cool flowing water.
"Hah." Tim sighed contentedly.
He removed his scarf, setting it down by the crystal, and dipped his hands in the water. Wiping his face with his wet hands, he tried to relax and let the cold water carry him away. He'd gotten the crystal successfully and it'd been very stressful. He deserved a break.
Tim leaned back, supporting his body with his hands, as he enjoyed the water on his feet.
"All that trouble for just one crystal." Tim said.
"Stupid bears."
Spin The Wheel
