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 Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 5:25 pm
 "I'd like to know," a voice weary with age but pleasant of tone asked, "has that cat of yours caught us anything, son?""Yes, father," a more youthful voice replied. "And I got her to let go this time, even!"The first voice laughed. "You can't call her a bad cat for that, at least," he chuckled.
In the dwindling daylight, the speakers would have been hard to see until they were almost underfoot. There sat on some soft grass a wiry old buck and his mongoose. The two of them had also been gathering food for the night's meal, but gathering fruit and greens was considerably less work than the hunting the son had decided to do.But the hunting was important, he's argued. The cat needed some training - she'd been utterly unmanageable for the first few months. Besides, why turn down a chance for good, fresh meat?
The cat in question draped across his back, as she was wont to be, and his darling songbird safely perched some distance away, the son sat with the father to make their evening meal.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:09 pm
 Strange Land had wandered for seasons, and still he felt like his story was missing -- something. Something. The lines were still awkward, the sounds not quite right, the words always beyond his grasp. "When the moon cast her gaze -- no, no." He was so preoccupied with one particular line, in fact, that he almost tripped right over another pair of bucks, without even realizing that they were there. It snapped him out of his near-trance in a hurry, and he stepped back before he could fall. "Oh -- oh, pardon, I'm very sorry."
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:09 pm
The older buck barely reacted to the intrusion beyond a slight raising of the fur on his neck. Serenely, he swiveled his head to look at - well, hm. Rather colorful, this intruder.
The son was considerably more startled than his father, and his cat had reacted as well, sinking her claws into his back and adding to his discomfiture.
As the younger of the pair was made busy soothing his unruly feline companion, the elder stood to greet their guest.
"Quite alright," he said simply. "I get rather like that myself when I think as I walk. I'm fortunate to have my son Motes-in-Moonlight here to watch my step for me, ha ha." making a neat little bow with his front legs, the old buck playfully said, "I welcome you to make camp with us this night, and to share with us our evening meal," and wondered if the stranger would catch the reference he'd made - he was fairly certain that variant of Tatterhide and the Cunning Fox was commonly told...
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:43 am
"Indeed, I would be honored to share the night with storytellers." Strange Land was startled into smiling; he usually found storytellers at large gatherings, not traveling by themselves. Hunters (and huntresses), lonely colts and fillies, explorers, travelers, even some who told of the sea -- but almost never another storyteller.
"If it's not intrusive, may I ask about your familiar?" He'd never seen anything like that cat before, though his songbird, Echo, seemed to have vanished entirely upon seeing it.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:46 pm
The older buck smiled hugely at his guest's recognition of his trade. "Well met, then!" he said.
The son, who had since shucked the cat and stopped his writhing, looked up. "The cat? Ah, I've heard from the Kiokote they call it a cheetah, when they don't call it a cat, like we do lynxes." He laughed wryly, rolling his eyes. "The first conversation about was a bit confusing, I can tell you."
Clearing his throat, the father called himself to the center of attention again. "Ah, I don't suppose you've heard that the Kiokote are back? We're spreading the word, along with other news and messages, as we tend to do," he said in explanation.
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 4:01 pm
That was a startling little revelation. "Indeed? So the rumors are true? I have heard many times that the other Kin of old had returned -- a doe spoke of seeing a Zikwa, not three days ago, but I found nothing to support her story. But then, if the Kiokote have returned, perhaps it was not so far-fetched a sighting, after all."
He studied the cat from a very careful distance -- those claws looked sharp. "Are they related to owlcats or lynxes? It looks quite like one."
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