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RoD - in five meters, turn right

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Many thanks to the peeps who kept me company as I streamed this :) and for their crits on the thorn bushes too!



Import link and name (including ID) of Tokota
: Contango 11345 by TotemSpirit
Chosen soul animal: Raven
Prompt:
10. Your tokota has their first brush with their animal companion. The experience is unforgettable, but the way your tokota interprets this new-found connection is up to you.
Link to HP confirmation: comments.deviantart.com/1/6133…
Previous tasks:
1- RoD - Confused? You should be
2- You are here
3- RoD- I give! Now let go!


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Gonna add the story later, but basically the huge white raven from her first RoD is a malevolent spirit that just wants to mess with mortals because it's bored. It plopped Contango into this huge horrible thorn maze. Try as she might, Contango can't seem to get oriented and get through this thing. She thinks she's done for and lost, but her spirit companion is there to help her :)

Contango's RoDs will be one character arc with the malevolent white raven.

ALSO this was the music I drew this to XD www.youtube.com/watch?v=De_ZKD…


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Storytime! Just one, the same one across all three pieces.

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“Are you confused, mortal? Perplexed? Stumped? Thrown for a loop? Good.” The colossal raven gave a light flap, though it clearly didn’t abide by normal aerodynamics; it was floating, not flying.

The raven clacked its beak chidingly.

“I have a hankering to play a game, and you’ll play along, yes you will.”

It swayed in mid-air, and cocked its head towards the ground. Following its gaze, Contango noticed a tangle of thorny vines growing. Growing impossibly fast.

“I’ve set a simple task for you, little mortal. Beat my little maze, my winding perplexity, and you will be allowed to leave nothing worse for wear.” The raven let out one gleeful croak “But should you fail, should you fail, mortaling, should you fail you will give up your life energy to me.”

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This was impossible. This was impossible. The maze was clearly never meant to be beaten. Contango had been at it for what felt like hours, and had come to the conclusion that the maze changed itself ever two hours or so (she figured this out by urinating on a corner, only to find the scent on a solid wall later; she hoped she would not regret that expenditure of water). So far she’d found no animals to hunt, and attempts to sample the thorns’ palatability had met with a spiked tongue.

Heaving a sigh, she tried one more time to get her bearings. She knew it was useless, she’s been at this far too long to know it might work this time. She saw nothing. She did, however, hear something.

A whispering sound of feathers, a specific flight pattern she’d heard before; a common raven.

She felt a light weight on her shoulders, and then a playful voice:

“In five meters, turn right” it said, monotonous and robotic.

She looked over her shoulder incredulously.

“How was my GPS impersonation? I’ll admit I haven’t heard enough to do it perfectly, but I try” trilled The Raven. It looked back at her with orange-brown eyes, unusual, for a raven, but eyes she recognized from her own reflection.

“Yes, I know you’re a little surprised, and I apologize for being late, but come now, we have a maze to beat!”

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With her Raven to guide her, it took absolutely no time at all to find the end of the maze. ‘The end’ being completely different from a traditional maze end, which honestly was to be expected of a challenge that was supposed to not be beaten. The end was simply where the white raven was perched, waiting for Contango to give up.

She and her Raven formulated a plan, and then ambushed the white raven. Her Raven swooped right at the white raven’s large red eyes, and while it was distracted, Contango charged up the tangle of vines that was its perch, and knocked it to the ground. Quick as she could manage, she flipped into the chosen bramble, reached through the thorns, and snagged the white raven by the scruff. She pulled and heaved until it was flush against the bramble. The white raven was big, certainly, but the thing about birds was that they always weighed less than other animals their same size.

Her Raven (which had grown larger? She didn’t question it, it was a spirit companion, after all) looked the white raven straight in the eye.

“Listen here, cousin, we would very much like to leave. And you will let us leave, or she’ll pluck you bare, down to your down, cousin.”

The white raven screamed and shrieked and flailed, and a feather or two came loose in Contango’s mouth; she swiftly readjusted her grip so as not give any slack. For ever tug, Contango heaved back, using her bulk and weight against the sturdy thorn barrier to anchor the bird where it was.

Eventually, it was clear that its energies were waning, it stopped fighting and dropped its head to the ground, panting.

“Fine. Fine! I give! Now let go!” the white raven hissed.

Contango released her jaws, and the white raven instantly evaporated into thick fog. The wind came back, and blew the fog away. The thorn brambles withered in on themselves until they crumbled into sand and they, too, blew away.

She was still on the Ridge of the Elders, but it was the real thing now. She could smell the forests and rivers of home on the wind, and the sun was just peeking out from behind the nearby arête peaks of the mountains, and all seemed normal.

She felt a light weight on her shoulders.

“Shall we head on home, then?” chirped her Raven.

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Comments10
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SolinaBright's avatar
The red is magnificent! A great atmosphere! ♥