Post by arrluk on May 7, 2008 23:32:40 GMT -5
Name: Arrluk
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Group: Southern Tribe Warriors
Nation: Southern Water Tribe
Bender?: Ahka(means no)
Physical Appearance:
Arrluks eyes are a pair of pale periwinkle orbs set in a tired almost weary gaze. His face is marked by a sharp and distinct jaw ending in a square shaped chin which is rounded at the edges. His wide eyebrows frame his round eyes and between which a thick nose slopes straight down his face and ends rounded and broad. The lips of his mouth are relatively thin and a dark shade of fallow. He also sports a copper brown complexion and a mess of seal brown hair. Although his hair is almost always tangled and messy he keeps the most of it pulled back in a form of wolftail about the length of his hand and hangs down onto his upper neck. The rest pretty much left to its own devices and hangs freely around his face and ears. When let down the hair hangs down to just about an inch above his shoulders. Arrluks facial expression is almost always one of a relaxed disposition with his eyelids drooping to some degree or another.
He stands at about five foot seven with a fairly lean body that although not overtly muscular is still solidly built. His proportionate arms and legs are lean and firm that despite being less muscular than those of other warriors are still strong from constant use. His shoulders back and shoulders are usually set in a minor slump that further enhances the sense of weariness or fatigue. Several minor scars adorn Arrluks body, most of witch are minor scratches that cover his arms and back. The only 'major' scar is a bite mark on his left legs shin.
Clothing/Armor:
Arrluks clothing is usually relatively simple and consists of traditional water tribe materials. On almost all occasions he wears a Carolina blue cloth tunic that hangs down a few inches below his waist, with short sleeves that reach down to above his elbows and a v shaped neck that comes down to the top of his chest. He wears this over a simple cream dyed and form fitting caribou skin sleevless shirt. Along with this he usually wears a pair of rather loose russet coloured leather pants. Around his waist he wears a plain denim blue leather belt.
His shoes are a pair of caribou leather boots which can be adjusted by a sinew cord and bone clasp at the top of each boot. For gloves he uses a pair of tight black leather gloves, both have a short cord that wraps around the wrist, these cords both have two fox teeth threaded at the end. Arrluk also carries several amulets in the shape of animals and people carver from bone, ivory or driftwood. These either hang from his leather belt or from his belongings, whether or not they actually bring protection or luck as he believes is still up for debate. One of these amulets is a killer whale carved from whale bone and tied into his ponytail.
Like all members of the southern water tribe he also owns a heavy parka meant for cold climates. It is made of powder blue seal skin that is lined with white polar bear fur. It extends down to shortly above his knees and the cuts on the side rise up to just below his waist. The arms are fitted with ties that are tipped with bone for the purpose of tightening the sleeve when necessary. The hood of the parka also has one of these ties along with several small tufts of cream fur that have been added to the back of the hood. Arrluk also wears a Carolina blue scarf wrapped around his lower face whenever the situation calls for it, such as heavy snow drafts or smoke cover. Although not exactly clothing Arrluk does often carry a large leather satchel slung over his shoulder so that it hangs at right side of his lower back. The satchel is a light shade of brown with the exception of two bands of blue that circle the bottom of the bag. The lower band is a dark navy blue while the upper band is a lighter shade of sky blue.
As far as armor goes Arrluk only wears a pair of arm guards on his forarms. The arm guards are fashioned from an elks antlers and fitted so that they cover most of Arrluks forearms and the backs of his hands. The wrists are covered only by leather and hide for ease of movement. The guard is fastened together by leather straps and sinew cords and is attached to the arm by three leather straps, two on the arm and one on the hand.
Weapons:
Arrluks main weapon of choice is a tomahawk which he uses both as a weapon and as a tool. Although previously mounted with a head made from an animal’s jawbone it has been refitted with a steel head purchased from earth kingdom merchants. The shaft however is still made exclusively from whale bone and wrapped in royal blue leather. A pair of Arrluks carvings, a polar bear and a grayling, hang from beneath the blade of the axe.
Arrluks also carries a pair of bolas as secondary weapons. The cords of each are fashioned from animal sinew and partially wrapped in leather dyed royal blue. Both have three heads of whale bone craved into roughly round spheres. One of Arrluks amulets hangs by one of the heads on both bolas. On one hangs an ivory carving of an snowy catowl and on the other is a bone carving of watertribe hunter holding a net in outstretched hands.
Although more of a tool than an effective weapon he also carries a small working knife which is simply a two inch blade carved from a whales tooth mounted on a three inch long ivory hilt. The hilt is intricately carved to portray scenes from Arrluks everyday life back in the southern water tribe, including a scene of a woman sewing and of several children playing with seals.
Personality:
Arrluk is a generally patient and subdued person and is not the sort of person who is likely to respond to minor slights to himself. This is not to say he is cold, quite the contrary, he is a very agreeable and accepting person. However because of the way he acts some people do not realize this and get the wrong impression. This has led to many a disagreement with both strangers and friends. He simply prefers to take his time with things and to only speak when he feels like it. Having grown up with several younger siblings he has developed a soft spot for younger children and tends to spoil them if he gets the chance.
Arrluk is also has a deep sense of superstition when it comes to bending and the spirits. He believes in the age old custom of invoking the protection of spirits through rituals, amulets and totems. Because of this he carries several amulets carved into the shape of animals, people and spirits, many of which he carved himself. His views on benders and the avatar is that they are more deeply connected with the spirit and with nature itself. Because of his belief he has begun to harbour some feelings of distaste for those who take the spirits for granted, this is doubly so for benders especially those who do not realize the significance of their own abilities.
Currently his main goals in life is to finally finish the war with the fire nation, whether this is through negotiation, attacking and destroying the fire nation itself or by helping the avatar defeat the fire lord. Unlike many who are driven by a need for revenge against the Fire nation or a will for peace Arrluk wishes to end the war because he is tired of fighting and wishes to go home to his family. To him his family is of utmost importance and mean more to him than his own wellbeing.
Background:
Arrluk was born some time during autumn to a small travellong group of southern water tribesmen. However because of the approaching winter, the constant fire nation raids and a lack of overall food and supplies it was decided that it would be better to allow another family to raise him rather than to become a burden to the group and to eventually starve. While passing through a coastal village a young hunter whose wife had yet to give birth to a child offered to take the child and soon the travelling tribe agreed. This hunters name was Kinaktok, he had recently been married to a woman called Anana and had not yet had any children of their own. Deciding to save the child he proposed to his wife to raise the child themselves, although reluctant at first she to warmed to the idea of raising the boy as their own. It was at this point that they named him after Ananas recently deceased father.
Despite the lack of any blood relations he was raised as if he was truly their son and effectively he was as he cared little for any information about his biological parents. As a young child he grew up as an only child and was gradually taught the traditions and ideals of his people. Eventually at the age of nine his adopted parents had their first actual baby. The baby was girl who they named Sakari. Although first scared of being ignored in favour of the new child Arrluk became very close with his new younger sister.
Sakari however was only the first of many new family members. The next to be born were the two twins, Akiak and Pukiq, a boy and a girl, when he was at the age of eleven. At the age of thirteen came Denigii his so far youngest brother. Lastly when he turned fifteen Anana gave birth to Miki, the latest addition to their family and most likely the last. During this time Ananas sister Eska also came to join the family to help with raising the children.
Through his younger years he he spent most of his time balancing between playing with the other boys of the tribe, ‘protecting’ his younger siblings, training with his father and eventually Akiak and Denigii, and helping support the tribe his family with his father through hunting and fishing. He first went hunting with his father and the others hunters at the age of thirteen and was told to act as a sort of look out. During the hunt he spent most his time watching the other hunters and due to the lack of awareness he ended up crashing through a sheet of thin ice. Luckily for him the other noticed a quickly rushed to his aid. However even as he was being pulled out of ice by his father a tiger seal had swam up and latched itself on his left leg and would likely of ripped it of it hadn’t been for a quick thrust of a harpoon by one of the other hunters.
Determined not to fail like he had again, once he was healed he joined the hunters on as many hunting trips as he could. Learning from both his father and the other hunters of the tribe he quickly grasped the use of both the tools and techniques employed, soon after under taking the ice dodging rite and passing.
Not particularly close to any of the other children in the tribe, he spent most of his free time with his family and more predominantly his siblings. Within the village he was rarely seen without at least one of his siblings hanging of his arm or riding on his shoulders. He would spend his time with them either telling them stories his parents had told him or about his hunting trips, teaching them basic skills such as fishing or tying knots and sometimes even joining in with their games.
Even through into adulthood he continued to help support his adoptive family, in some cases helping to raise the kids and at one point even taking part in his brother Akiaks Ice dodging rite.
During the ages of eighteen and twenty five he spent most of his time either helping with his family or helping to deal with the fire nation raids. Although no major battles were ever fought, as most the tribe usually packed up and moved away whenever the fire nation appeared, there were some small skirmishes between the southern warriors and the fire nation soldiers that followed the tribe.
Then the day came when all the men left the southern water tribe to go to war. The tribe had recently been surprised by a fire nation raid during a dense fog and had lost several members of the tribe and injured many more, including his younger sister Sakari who had taken a spear to the throat and nearly died. Therefore it was decided that the men from the tribe would join the other southern water tribe warriors who were leaving to join the war so that they could finally live in peace and not fear the sight of a black ship in the distance. He was twenty five years old at the time and although he knew it had only been a matter of time he still felt pain at having to leave his family just as his original family had left him. Both his family and he were overcome with sadness at the occasion but beyond everything else he promised to see the war to the end and return back home together with his father.
Once the farewells had been said he was put in second in command of a small war ship. It was part of a small fleet of seven similar ships one of which was captained by his own father. The purpose of this small fleet of ships was to ambush fire nation scout ships and raiding parties under the cover of fog and either capture the ships or sink them. They continued to perform these ambush attacks for several years moving away from the south pole and onto the earth kingdoms coasts and fire nation islands and continued to perform their ambushes successfully. That is not to say that everything always went smoothly. The danger and mortality rate for such ambushes could be quite high, especially if the fire nation got wind of an ambush beforehand.
After two years of this dangerous work the small fleet has finally settled down in Chameleon bay after a particularly nasty conflict with a fully armed and fully manned fire nation battleship. Having lost several men, including Arrluks ships captain, and almost an entire ship the fleet has decided to lay low in Chameleon bay until they can replenish their numbers and fix their ships. Arrluks father Kinaktok has also been injured having lost his left hand to the enemy captain’s jian. Somewhere during this time the larger force also split apart with half heading north to help their sister tribe and the other half ending up in Chameleon bay.
Having recently been promoted, Arrluk is now the captain of the small warship called the ‘The Southern Wind’ and all its crew. With now eight men under his command he is setting about finding new members to replenish his crew , making the ‘The Southern Wind’ seaworthy again and seeking out any nearby fire nation threats.
Sample RP:
Arrluk adjusted the facemask that covered his mouth, it was good at keeping the cold out but it wasn’t exactly comfortable and it didn't smell particularly well when wet either. He pulled his hood down lower as well, the wind and snow were getting worse and he knew he needed to finish soon if he wanted to have a chance at getting back to the village.
Treading carefully though the snow he to his time to distribute his weight and minimize the noise he made. He was almost there only a few more steps and he would be at the edge of the snow dune. Pulling a single bone arrow from his quiver he notched on the string of his bow but refrained from pulling it taut. Breathing slowly he was partially aware of the foggy mist that escaped from his mouth. Finally reaching the edge of the snow dune he kept his body low and crouched as he slowly peeked around.
Standing in the middle of a large field of snow and ice were a herd of wild buffalo deer. Picking out the closest one to himself he pulled the string of sinew tight and trained the arrow on the unsuspecting animal. The arrow was nothing special the tip was taken from the tooth of a tiger seal and the bone that made up the shaft itself was likely taken from a relative of the buffalo deer he was about to drop.
But as he was about to let the arrow fly, several the heads of several deer shot up and looked around frantically as if trying to spot some invisible threat. Ducking down low he quickly thought to himself. “Did they hear me? Or smell me? No can’t be I’m down wind and in this heavy wind there’s no way they could of hear me.” Pondering to himself he comes to a frightening conclusion. “Something else is here...but what?” Suddenly loud roar could be heard from the other side of the herd of buffalo deer. From where he stood he could barely make it out. Squinting he could discern the shape of a large polar bear as it rose up from a snow dune similar to the one he was hiding behind. The large beast rose up and then came crashing down upon a surprised deer and with a single swipe of its paw had broken its prey’s neck. “Lucky I decided to come around this side then and not that way.”
At that moment the herd of buffalo deer decide to bolt and most scatter off away from the polar bear and its new meal. Swearing under his breath and trying to track his mark, Arrluk follows the deer’s movement with his bow and strikes the deer down with an arrow to the neck. Rushing to its side he swiftly draws his hand axe and brings it down on the animals neck finishing the dying animal off. As he is about to gather the deer’s carcass and make his leave he hears a low rumbling growl and chances a look up from the deer’s body and comes face to face with the polar bear standing over its own kill possessively. Seeing the beast up close growling at him a single thought runs through his mind once he realized what was happening. “Oh spirits protect me, I'm dead.”
Regaining he senses quickly he began to speak gently towards the large and definitely hostile bear. Attempting to sooth it so that he can make away with his deer he tries to explain to the bear not to worry and to allow him to leave. “Its all right, im not going to mess with you, you can keep your meat. I’m, just going to leave now, okay? Just me leaving with my own kill. You can keep yours, I'm just going to leave with mine, right?” Carefully hoisting the deer’s carcass over his shoulders Arrluk backs away slowly from the bear as its growling increases. After what seem like hours of treading backwards the bear finally looks back to its kill and begins to tear into the dead deer. Letting out a breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding. Working his way through the snow he could still hear the sound of the bear as it tore into its bloody meal.
Trudging on back through the snow towards his home he couldn’t help but wonder how close the bear was to charging him and tearing him down just as it had to the Buffalo deer. “Ah well, not the first time, at least we’ll be eating well tonight.”
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Group: Southern Tribe Warriors
Nation: Southern Water Tribe
Bender?: Ahka(means no)
Physical Appearance:
Arrluks eyes are a pair of pale periwinkle orbs set in a tired almost weary gaze. His face is marked by a sharp and distinct jaw ending in a square shaped chin which is rounded at the edges. His wide eyebrows frame his round eyes and between which a thick nose slopes straight down his face and ends rounded and broad. The lips of his mouth are relatively thin and a dark shade of fallow. He also sports a copper brown complexion and a mess of seal brown hair. Although his hair is almost always tangled and messy he keeps the most of it pulled back in a form of wolftail about the length of his hand and hangs down onto his upper neck. The rest pretty much left to its own devices and hangs freely around his face and ears. When let down the hair hangs down to just about an inch above his shoulders. Arrluks facial expression is almost always one of a relaxed disposition with his eyelids drooping to some degree or another.
He stands at about five foot seven with a fairly lean body that although not overtly muscular is still solidly built. His proportionate arms and legs are lean and firm that despite being less muscular than those of other warriors are still strong from constant use. His shoulders back and shoulders are usually set in a minor slump that further enhances the sense of weariness or fatigue. Several minor scars adorn Arrluks body, most of witch are minor scratches that cover his arms and back. The only 'major' scar is a bite mark on his left legs shin.
Clothing/Armor:
Arrluks clothing is usually relatively simple and consists of traditional water tribe materials. On almost all occasions he wears a Carolina blue cloth tunic that hangs down a few inches below his waist, with short sleeves that reach down to above his elbows and a v shaped neck that comes down to the top of his chest. He wears this over a simple cream dyed and form fitting caribou skin sleevless shirt. Along with this he usually wears a pair of rather loose russet coloured leather pants. Around his waist he wears a plain denim blue leather belt.
His shoes are a pair of caribou leather boots which can be adjusted by a sinew cord and bone clasp at the top of each boot. For gloves he uses a pair of tight black leather gloves, both have a short cord that wraps around the wrist, these cords both have two fox teeth threaded at the end. Arrluk also carries several amulets in the shape of animals and people carver from bone, ivory or driftwood. These either hang from his leather belt or from his belongings, whether or not they actually bring protection or luck as he believes is still up for debate. One of these amulets is a killer whale carved from whale bone and tied into his ponytail.
Like all members of the southern water tribe he also owns a heavy parka meant for cold climates. It is made of powder blue seal skin that is lined with white polar bear fur. It extends down to shortly above his knees and the cuts on the side rise up to just below his waist. The arms are fitted with ties that are tipped with bone for the purpose of tightening the sleeve when necessary. The hood of the parka also has one of these ties along with several small tufts of cream fur that have been added to the back of the hood. Arrluk also wears a Carolina blue scarf wrapped around his lower face whenever the situation calls for it, such as heavy snow drafts or smoke cover. Although not exactly clothing Arrluk does often carry a large leather satchel slung over his shoulder so that it hangs at right side of his lower back. The satchel is a light shade of brown with the exception of two bands of blue that circle the bottom of the bag. The lower band is a dark navy blue while the upper band is a lighter shade of sky blue.
As far as armor goes Arrluk only wears a pair of arm guards on his forarms. The arm guards are fashioned from an elks antlers and fitted so that they cover most of Arrluks forearms and the backs of his hands. The wrists are covered only by leather and hide for ease of movement. The guard is fastened together by leather straps and sinew cords and is attached to the arm by three leather straps, two on the arm and one on the hand.
Weapons:
Arrluks main weapon of choice is a tomahawk which he uses both as a weapon and as a tool. Although previously mounted with a head made from an animal’s jawbone it has been refitted with a steel head purchased from earth kingdom merchants. The shaft however is still made exclusively from whale bone and wrapped in royal blue leather. A pair of Arrluks carvings, a polar bear and a grayling, hang from beneath the blade of the axe.
Arrluks also carries a pair of bolas as secondary weapons. The cords of each are fashioned from animal sinew and partially wrapped in leather dyed royal blue. Both have three heads of whale bone craved into roughly round spheres. One of Arrluks amulets hangs by one of the heads on both bolas. On one hangs an ivory carving of an snowy catowl and on the other is a bone carving of watertribe hunter holding a net in outstretched hands.
Although more of a tool than an effective weapon he also carries a small working knife which is simply a two inch blade carved from a whales tooth mounted on a three inch long ivory hilt. The hilt is intricately carved to portray scenes from Arrluks everyday life back in the southern water tribe, including a scene of a woman sewing and of several children playing with seals.
Personality:
Arrluk is a generally patient and subdued person and is not the sort of person who is likely to respond to minor slights to himself. This is not to say he is cold, quite the contrary, he is a very agreeable and accepting person. However because of the way he acts some people do not realize this and get the wrong impression. This has led to many a disagreement with both strangers and friends. He simply prefers to take his time with things and to only speak when he feels like it. Having grown up with several younger siblings he has developed a soft spot for younger children and tends to spoil them if he gets the chance.
Arrluk is also has a deep sense of superstition when it comes to bending and the spirits. He believes in the age old custom of invoking the protection of spirits through rituals, amulets and totems. Because of this he carries several amulets carved into the shape of animals, people and spirits, many of which he carved himself. His views on benders and the avatar is that they are more deeply connected with the spirit and with nature itself. Because of his belief he has begun to harbour some feelings of distaste for those who take the spirits for granted, this is doubly so for benders especially those who do not realize the significance of their own abilities.
Currently his main goals in life is to finally finish the war with the fire nation, whether this is through negotiation, attacking and destroying the fire nation itself or by helping the avatar defeat the fire lord. Unlike many who are driven by a need for revenge against the Fire nation or a will for peace Arrluk wishes to end the war because he is tired of fighting and wishes to go home to his family. To him his family is of utmost importance and mean more to him than his own wellbeing.
Background:
Arrluk was born some time during autumn to a small travellong group of southern water tribesmen. However because of the approaching winter, the constant fire nation raids and a lack of overall food and supplies it was decided that it would be better to allow another family to raise him rather than to become a burden to the group and to eventually starve. While passing through a coastal village a young hunter whose wife had yet to give birth to a child offered to take the child and soon the travelling tribe agreed. This hunters name was Kinaktok, he had recently been married to a woman called Anana and had not yet had any children of their own. Deciding to save the child he proposed to his wife to raise the child themselves, although reluctant at first she to warmed to the idea of raising the boy as their own. It was at this point that they named him after Ananas recently deceased father.
Despite the lack of any blood relations he was raised as if he was truly their son and effectively he was as he cared little for any information about his biological parents. As a young child he grew up as an only child and was gradually taught the traditions and ideals of his people. Eventually at the age of nine his adopted parents had their first actual baby. The baby was girl who they named Sakari. Although first scared of being ignored in favour of the new child Arrluk became very close with his new younger sister.
Sakari however was only the first of many new family members. The next to be born were the two twins, Akiak and Pukiq, a boy and a girl, when he was at the age of eleven. At the age of thirteen came Denigii his so far youngest brother. Lastly when he turned fifteen Anana gave birth to Miki, the latest addition to their family and most likely the last. During this time Ananas sister Eska also came to join the family to help with raising the children.
Through his younger years he he spent most of his time balancing between playing with the other boys of the tribe, ‘protecting’ his younger siblings, training with his father and eventually Akiak and Denigii, and helping support the tribe his family with his father through hunting and fishing. He first went hunting with his father and the others hunters at the age of thirteen and was told to act as a sort of look out. During the hunt he spent most his time watching the other hunters and due to the lack of awareness he ended up crashing through a sheet of thin ice. Luckily for him the other noticed a quickly rushed to his aid. However even as he was being pulled out of ice by his father a tiger seal had swam up and latched itself on his left leg and would likely of ripped it of it hadn’t been for a quick thrust of a harpoon by one of the other hunters.
Determined not to fail like he had again, once he was healed he joined the hunters on as many hunting trips as he could. Learning from both his father and the other hunters of the tribe he quickly grasped the use of both the tools and techniques employed, soon after under taking the ice dodging rite and passing.
Not particularly close to any of the other children in the tribe, he spent most of his free time with his family and more predominantly his siblings. Within the village he was rarely seen without at least one of his siblings hanging of his arm or riding on his shoulders. He would spend his time with them either telling them stories his parents had told him or about his hunting trips, teaching them basic skills such as fishing or tying knots and sometimes even joining in with their games.
Even through into adulthood he continued to help support his adoptive family, in some cases helping to raise the kids and at one point even taking part in his brother Akiaks Ice dodging rite.
During the ages of eighteen and twenty five he spent most of his time either helping with his family or helping to deal with the fire nation raids. Although no major battles were ever fought, as most the tribe usually packed up and moved away whenever the fire nation appeared, there were some small skirmishes between the southern warriors and the fire nation soldiers that followed the tribe.
Then the day came when all the men left the southern water tribe to go to war. The tribe had recently been surprised by a fire nation raid during a dense fog and had lost several members of the tribe and injured many more, including his younger sister Sakari who had taken a spear to the throat and nearly died. Therefore it was decided that the men from the tribe would join the other southern water tribe warriors who were leaving to join the war so that they could finally live in peace and not fear the sight of a black ship in the distance. He was twenty five years old at the time and although he knew it had only been a matter of time he still felt pain at having to leave his family just as his original family had left him. Both his family and he were overcome with sadness at the occasion but beyond everything else he promised to see the war to the end and return back home together with his father.
Once the farewells had been said he was put in second in command of a small war ship. It was part of a small fleet of seven similar ships one of which was captained by his own father. The purpose of this small fleet of ships was to ambush fire nation scout ships and raiding parties under the cover of fog and either capture the ships or sink them. They continued to perform these ambush attacks for several years moving away from the south pole and onto the earth kingdoms coasts and fire nation islands and continued to perform their ambushes successfully. That is not to say that everything always went smoothly. The danger and mortality rate for such ambushes could be quite high, especially if the fire nation got wind of an ambush beforehand.
After two years of this dangerous work the small fleet has finally settled down in Chameleon bay after a particularly nasty conflict with a fully armed and fully manned fire nation battleship. Having lost several men, including Arrluks ships captain, and almost an entire ship the fleet has decided to lay low in Chameleon bay until they can replenish their numbers and fix their ships. Arrluks father Kinaktok has also been injured having lost his left hand to the enemy captain’s jian. Somewhere during this time the larger force also split apart with half heading north to help their sister tribe and the other half ending up in Chameleon bay.
Having recently been promoted, Arrluk is now the captain of the small warship called the ‘The Southern Wind’ and all its crew. With now eight men under his command he is setting about finding new members to replenish his crew , making the ‘The Southern Wind’ seaworthy again and seeking out any nearby fire nation threats.
Sample RP:
Arrluk adjusted the facemask that covered his mouth, it was good at keeping the cold out but it wasn’t exactly comfortable and it didn't smell particularly well when wet either. He pulled his hood down lower as well, the wind and snow were getting worse and he knew he needed to finish soon if he wanted to have a chance at getting back to the village.
Treading carefully though the snow he to his time to distribute his weight and minimize the noise he made. He was almost there only a few more steps and he would be at the edge of the snow dune. Pulling a single bone arrow from his quiver he notched on the string of his bow but refrained from pulling it taut. Breathing slowly he was partially aware of the foggy mist that escaped from his mouth. Finally reaching the edge of the snow dune he kept his body low and crouched as he slowly peeked around.
Standing in the middle of a large field of snow and ice were a herd of wild buffalo deer. Picking out the closest one to himself he pulled the string of sinew tight and trained the arrow on the unsuspecting animal. The arrow was nothing special the tip was taken from the tooth of a tiger seal and the bone that made up the shaft itself was likely taken from a relative of the buffalo deer he was about to drop.
But as he was about to let the arrow fly, several the heads of several deer shot up and looked around frantically as if trying to spot some invisible threat. Ducking down low he quickly thought to himself. “Did they hear me? Or smell me? No can’t be I’m down wind and in this heavy wind there’s no way they could of hear me.” Pondering to himself he comes to a frightening conclusion. “Something else is here...but what?” Suddenly loud roar could be heard from the other side of the herd of buffalo deer. From where he stood he could barely make it out. Squinting he could discern the shape of a large polar bear as it rose up from a snow dune similar to the one he was hiding behind. The large beast rose up and then came crashing down upon a surprised deer and with a single swipe of its paw had broken its prey’s neck. “Lucky I decided to come around this side then and not that way.”
At that moment the herd of buffalo deer decide to bolt and most scatter off away from the polar bear and its new meal. Swearing under his breath and trying to track his mark, Arrluk follows the deer’s movement with his bow and strikes the deer down with an arrow to the neck. Rushing to its side he swiftly draws his hand axe and brings it down on the animals neck finishing the dying animal off. As he is about to gather the deer’s carcass and make his leave he hears a low rumbling growl and chances a look up from the deer’s body and comes face to face with the polar bear standing over its own kill possessively. Seeing the beast up close growling at him a single thought runs through his mind once he realized what was happening. “Oh spirits protect me, I'm dead.”
Regaining he senses quickly he began to speak gently towards the large and definitely hostile bear. Attempting to sooth it so that he can make away with his deer he tries to explain to the bear not to worry and to allow him to leave. “Its all right, im not going to mess with you, you can keep your meat. I’m, just going to leave now, okay? Just me leaving with my own kill. You can keep yours, I'm just going to leave with mine, right?” Carefully hoisting the deer’s carcass over his shoulders Arrluk backs away slowly from the bear as its growling increases. After what seem like hours of treading backwards the bear finally looks back to its kill and begins to tear into the dead deer. Letting out a breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding. Working his way through the snow he could still hear the sound of the bear as it tore into its bloody meal.
Trudging on back through the snow towards his home he couldn’t help but wonder how close the bear was to charging him and tearing him down just as it had to the Buffalo deer. “Ah well, not the first time, at least we’ll be eating well tonight.”