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 Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 7:59 pm
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The black form of a young lioness sat out on a cluster of rocks that jutted out into the ocean. It was a distance off shore, and probably a more dangerous area than she probably should have chosen to be, but she had need to be close to her muse, a need to find some peace in the waves that crashed around the base of the large rocks. The whimsical nature that Nerida usually possessed was gone, replaced with a solemn look upon her face.
"I just don't understand," she said to no one in particular, gazing down at the waves, at the ocean as it crashed and beat at the unmoving rocks. Her fur was coated from the mist that sprayed upwards, and her eyes stung a little from the salt that had been battering at them for so long, and yet, she refused to turn away. She refused to leave.
The wind picked up around her, blowing at her fur, ruffling her dark coat. The waves continued to crash, as rhythmic as always, a repetitive pattern that continued. It was the ocean song, the whistling wind combined with the ocean waves, and in a way was very comforting.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 9:13 pm
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A weak smile spread across the maw of her pretty face at the brush of the wind, her head tilting backward and her eyes shutting as the salty wind curled around her. She could smell the ocean in the air, feel the gentle brush, and it was calming to her. Her mood was turning all the better just being here, just being nearer to the ocean, nearer to the one thing that had always been a constant in her life.
"He just shouldn't be so stupid," she said irritatedly, stomping her foot, and then pushing herself up onto her feet. "I can't believe that he would act that way!"
As soon as her mood flipped from content to angry, the wind picked up, somewhat harder as she began to complain about the boy. At first it was all in good nature, and then it battered at her shifting legs, a rather strong ocean gale, and the waves crashed just a little bit harder against the rocks. A particularly tall one sent a wash of water over the top of the rock, and across the tops of the lioness' paws.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 9:25 pm
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As the wind pushed against her and the wave sent the water crashing over the rocks, she felt her paws slipping. The water combined with the force of the wind caused her feet to slip out from under her and she landed with an ungraceful flop onto the rock. She started to slip off, scrambled to hold on with her claws, and pulled herself back up to sit down. With a deep breath, she cast a frown at the water, narrowing her eyes.
"Defend him? Why would you defend him? He's stubborn! And stupid!" she huffed, taking a deep breath, and looked down at her paws with a glare. "He's wrong, I know he's wrong!" She stood up again, moving to the edge of the rock, and glared down at the ocean this time. "Why did it have to be him, why did you have to send me him?"
As she stood up and moved to the edge of the rock, the wind blew another huge gust, a roar that bellowed around her. A large waved crashed against the rock, followed by another that washed up atop it, and another set of howling winds barreled down against her form in an angry mess.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 10:08 pm
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She felt her paws slipping again, and this time she had to scramble hard to keep her balance. She clawed her way back up on top of the rock, taking a few deep breaths. She had to sit, catch her breath, and relax before she could even begin to think about responding to the rather abusive reaction she had just gotten from her typically very understanding muse. It had never reacted to her in that manner before and it surprised her - it reserved it's rather angry temper for other creatures, other lions that didn't understand it.
She coughed, pushing herself up to her feet again, and looked out at the ocean again. "I can't believe that you would still think he was right! I've never done anything to him, except what you asked of me!" She was still refusing to see what was wrong, that she was wrong, and all she could do was keep denying that she had done anything at all.
In one uproar of wind and crashing waves, the ocean replied with it's angriest hurl of water and gale yet, aiming it right for her lone figure upon the rocks. The great wave poured over the top of the rock she was standing upon, coupled with the whistling gale that was enough to knock a rhino off its feet.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 10:21 pm
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With a cry, Nerida was finally knocked off of her feet and straight into the water, with no hope of even grasping onto the rock at all. She flailed, trying to grab onto anything that would have kept her above the waves, knowing that the ocean had no sympathy for her at the moment. She had seen battered seashells upon the shore, starfish with broken legs, beached fish and jellyfish that had wronged their mistress. She had no idea what she had said, but she went crashing down into the angry cusp of her waves anyway.
Flailing, she tried desperately to fight the current, to find her way up to the surface, for air. She had no idea what she had done wrong, and had no care to be thinking about it while she was busy fighting for her breath.
The waves curled and tumbled, pushing her towards shore, pulling her and pushing her and sending her head over heel. They carried her fast and quick, stranding her in the shallows where the energy of the waves could no longer carry her weight.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 12:04 am
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As she found the sand beneath her feet, Nerida began to drag herself out of the water, surfacing finally and collapsing against the beach with a deep inhale of breath. She gasped, sopping wet, chest heaving as she spluttered up water and tried to fill her tortured lungs with the air she had been deprived of all at the same time. One would think her first reaction would be to crawl out of the waves that still washed up around her, but she lay there, panting.
"Why," she said softly, feeling the tears beginning to pool in her eyes. She shifted, flopping onto her side lightly, and curled up upon herself. The tears brimmed, and spilled, mixing with the salty water that had already soaked the fur of her dark cheeks. "I don't understand," she whispered, her throat raw from the salt water, voice cracking from emotion, "I don't understand what I'm supposed to do."
A soft gust of wind blew past her, caressing her cheeks, as if it were brushing away the tears that had already begun to mingle with the saltwater that dripped from her form. The waves lapped at her back paws where she still lay half in the water. The ocean was a fickle mistress whose emotions seemed to flip from one extreme to the other quickly.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 1:01 am
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Nerida sniffed and lay her head upon her paws, closing her eyes, as if the wind were her mother's touch. She paid no heed to the fact that it had previously just abused her and drug her through hell. In fact, she seemed to think it was something she deserved, even if she didn't understand it at this time.
"So I need to talk to him," she said softly, rubbing a paw against her cheek, "but what do I say? I don't have the first idea about what he wants me to say to him." She sighed, shutting her eyes, knowing that the tears were still flooding them, still brimming over. She had no idea what to say to Panu, what he wanted to hear, or what the ocean really wanted them to say. She couldn't even really understand half of the reason they seemed to be fighting, or why she was mad. It was all so frustrating.
A wave of water crashed up on the beach, pooling up around her body, and receded only to be replaced by another. It was a comforting touch, accompanied by the kiss of salty sea wind as always, and the female seemed to listen as both came close to her form.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 1:07 am
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"What if he doesn't want to talk to me?" she admitted, finally, one of the issues that had been eating at her gut. She had hit him, and he had just walked away. Walked away, without saying anything, without looking back. What if he decided after that that she wasn't worth the trouble? She was so frustrated trying to figure out if there was something between them, or if there wasn't, if she had a right to be upset or if she didn't. The ocean had just berated her for thinking Panu stupid, so she had to be wrong on some level. He had to be right about something.
"He may not even care anymore, after everything, after what I've done," she said. She knew she had hurt him, though she was slow to realize it. She wasn't sure what things she had done to do so, other than be close to Nili, but she was sure she had done quite a few. The whole present from the ocean thing she knew he never quite liked. She sniffed again and rubbed at her nose, her heart thudding in her chest, but feeling twisted and pained. It was a terrible feeling, and not one she liked.
Again, the waves washed up around her body, the wind reached out to caress her form. She reacted to it as if she would a living person, shifting in the waves that curled around her, moving in the sand that rolled with the motion of the water.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 1:12 am
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She nodded slowly and pushed herself up onto her feet, shaking her body slowly, though she still sniffled slightly. She was trying to pull herself together, to get back her composure, though she had just been on a terrible roller coaster ride. Nearly drowned, then had to actually think about the feelings and emotions she had been pointedly ignoring up until this point.
"I suppose I'd better go find him," she said with a sigh, staring out at the ocean longingly, "the longer I wait, the angrier he'll be and I don't want to have to deal with him being stubborn." She paused, though, as if she were waiting for something, staring out at the waves that crashed in the distance.
The waves at her feet washed up farther, curling around her dark paws, and the wind gave one last pointed gust before it blew off down the beach to toy with other things and other creatures of its creation.
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 1:15 am
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