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 Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 3:39 pm
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Chi had never really been put in a situation where she'd had to pace left and right, but she was swiftly finding out that she was, in fact, a 'pacer'. If she was upset, distressed and could get away with it, she'd pace. Boy, would she pace; she was practically carving a trailed hole into the ground, wearing it away, little by little with all her pacing left and right.
Alas, the small lioness couldn't help it.
Myuto had been gone for several hours already and paranoia was start to settle into the pit of her stomach. She'd only been travelling with him for a few weeks, but already she'd grown fond, and while it was true he'd taught her to hunt and she could, in fact, in an emergency now actually leave and take care of herself, truth was she didn't really want to. She wasn't sure the same could be said about the larger male however, given that he was still a touch cold to her (though not on purpose - his shyness was rather crippling, really), and given half a chance, Chi wasn't entirely sure if he'd rather stick with her or return to his solitude, which she had technically interrupted.
As such, while most of her thoughts and fears were directed towards her thinking he'd possibly hurt himself, he'd been attacked, or something had happened to him... a small, self conscious segment of her mind was whispering that perhaps, just perhaps, he'd simply abandoned her. The longer she waited, pacing left and right at the mouth of the den they'd found early that evening, the harder it was becoming to ignore that voice that nibbled at the back of her thoughts.
Waiting was apparently, not one of her fortes.
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:09 pm
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It was a nice enough afternoon. Cool, growing dark, the day hadn't been as hot as it could have been and there was a nice enough breeze. He had eaten quite a bit and there had been a water hole not too far off. In all, he couldn't complain. It was difficult living as a loner, but in a way it was also liberating. He could do as he pleased, go where he pleased, and there wasn't anyone to question him. Those that did? Well... the unfortunate souls didn't last too long.
Still... he often thought of the lioness from En Gedi and wondered if she'd grown fat after their encounter. If he'd sired cubs, if they were strong or even worth the attention of his thoughts. Likely not. The mother had been small and mute, pathetic. A servant to the most unworthy of beings and quite proud of that fact.
He sneered and licked his dry maw. There were too few that were bold enough to leave their precious prides, even fewer that were comfortable enough to leave their delusion that left them as the playthings of the gods. Forming any kind of group was proving to be difficult. He didn't even have a foothold...
The lion's thoughts broke away as something moved just above the grassline. A large head rose up out of the dry grass, half of it masked behind the skull of a fallen feline. Horrible scars left behind from an unfortunate encounter with a warthog in his younger years. So few appreciated the danger those beasts were capable of presenting if they were cornered...
He took a deep breath and narrowed his remaining eye. Lowering back into the sea of gold, Jelani crept through the grass until he could peer through it, rooting out the source of activity that had caught his attention. Sitting downwind, he could smell the lioness before he could see her. She was small...and very alone. The sun flashed off of something and as he cleared a little more grass from his vision he was the golden ring. A mark of slavery to the traveling slavers. How...strange.
He paused and glanced about, taking in long breaths. No one was about... no master, no slavers. Perhaps she had escaped? Perhaps she had been abandoned. How fortunate.
Smirking, he rose up over the grass. A behemoth of a lion with muscle stretching his golden pelt. His entire left side was a scarred mess and his face, while handsome for what was left of it, set in a dangerous scowl. "Strange seeing a slave so far from a master. Quite...dangerous in these parts." |
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:26 pm
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To say Chi was startled was putting it mildly. The poor lioness jumped a whole foot in the air, bristling wildly before she backed up against the den, baring her fangs at the intruder. Mentally, she kicked herself for not paying better attention to her surroundings, but she couldn't quite help it. After all, while it was true Myuto had taught her quite a bit and she could likely fair out on her own semi decently... she was but a cub in terms of dealing with the outside world. It hadn't even occurred to her to pose herself in such a way others would not be able to track her by scent, and it hadn't really crossed her mind that someone might try to stalk or otherwise attack her.
Her first, immediate instinct was to act submissive; lower her ears, lower her head, perhaps show her belly, or lick the attacker's maw in an act of submission. So strong was the instinct, that for a split second, Chi lowered her head and her ears a notch or two, however, as soon as the lion spoke up, it snapped right back up.
Slave.
The word was like a physical slap and it made the lioness flatten her ears back, submissiveness all but forgotten as she bared her fangs in a nasty snarl, "I'm not a slave! And I'm not alone! Go away, you're not welcome here!" she punctuated her words with growls, and even went so far as to swipe the air with her claws, but it was obviously all for show, because she knew just as well as he did that she wouldn't be able to last two seconds in a fight against him. Still, despite that, it was obvious she was not about to back down, and that if she had to go down, she much rather go down fighting.
After all, slaves did not fight.
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 4:37 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:28 am
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The lioness bared fangs and claws once more, her snarl obvious as it resounded against the walls of the cave that were currently surrounding her, trapping her. She couldn't run, she couldn't hide; all that was left for her to do was fight, and in all honesty... that was okay with her. Granted, Chi did not have a death wish, but when placed between the proverbial sword and wall, she much rather fight than go along with whatever this male wanted from her. The fact he claimed he wanted a warm body only sealed the deal for her; she much rather die fighting than live through whatever he wanted to do to her.
"The ring is mine. It no longer means any of that, and I swear, you come any closer and I'll attack. At the cost of my life, yes, but I'll leave some nice few scars on that horribly disfigured pelt of yours to remember me by!" the words were snapped, but it was clear she meant them, "Hopefully I'll pull out that other eye of yours in the struggle before I fall," she might've been weaker than he was, true, but she also had nothing to lose, and while she was smaller... that made her dangerous.
At least, that was what Chi hoped.
She shot one last, longing look at the savannah before she snarled again and attempted to charge against her assailant. With some luck, she might be able to blind him in his good eye before making a hasty retreat around and away from him. Either way, whatever the outcome, it was better than going back to that life.
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:04 am
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His paw connected with her jaw, sending her flying back, though she did attempt to slash at his arm regardless. Despite the impact, the lioness was swiftly back on all four, launching herself back against her assailant; apparently she'd already decided she was going to lose the fight and it didn't matter to her. It didn't matter that he was stronger; it didn't matter that he could easily brush her aside.
This wasn't about that.
This was about making a stand. Saying enough was enough, something she should have done long ago but had been too scared to. If anything, Myuto had given her a taste of freedom, something she'd never hoped to have, and that faith, the hope she'd felt was worth dying over, if it meant she'd remain free. As she bared her fangs at him, aiming again for his eyes, she closed her own and tried hard not to let the tears spill. She'd not known Myuto for long, but she rather wished she'd have been able to say her good byes at least.
Soon enough Jelani'd have nothing more than a broken toy if this continued.
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:10 am
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Jelani stepped smartly out of the way and threw his paw out, this time connecting with the back of his paw to bat her aside. She was protecting her eyes and making herself blind and clumsy in the process. Clearly she had spirit, but no actual skill in combat. The former prince, however, had both. He had met a god in combat and while he had lost- he had still survived.
"Pathetic." He grunted, turning on the female to anticipate yet another attack. Doubtless she'd continue to try. "You've not had blood on your class have you? Clea-"
Something moved out of his blind spot, massive and furious. The lion was forced to guard as another male connected with him, throwing his full weight against the intruder to throw him back.
Myuto bellowed a roar from behind his cape and shifted himself to stand over Chi's prone form. Rage had his body trembling, his eyes blazing. How dare this stranger touch her like that?! Who did he think he was!? She was a female! "Don't. You touch her."
Jelani wiped the side of his face and chuckled. "Well well, you weren't alone after all... and just what is this?" He motioned to the male. "You leave your slave unattended? Or...", he paused and narrowed his eye, "Is there something...more?
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:24 pm
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Chicanery was once more, knocked to the side with relative ease (and good gods, if she, by some miracle, came out alive from the ordeal, she was going to make damn sure she got some sort of fighting lessons from someone). this time however, she landed awkwardly on her feet, and she only managed to twist her wrist when she tried to twist around swiftly. This, in turn, caused her to fall face first into the ground, her mouth filling with dried grass and dust as she attempted, in vain, to get up in order to strike again.
Before she could manage to do much more, a large form stood over her, and given the fact she was partially blinded by the dust, she initially panicked, snarling fearfully until the roar resounded above her.
She knew that voice.
Granted, it was a roar, not an actual voice, and she'd never really heard him roar or growl before, but she recognized Myuto's tone of voice almost instantly. The rush of hope, warmth and affection that washed through her, almost like a wave, was impossible to ignore, though for the time being, the lioness did her best to shove it aside in favor of paying better attention to the situation at hand. Thus so, standing up with difficulty, she peeked at her agressor from behind Myuto's large form, offering him a hiss or two before narrowing her eyes, "I told you, I'm not a slave!" her voice cracked, and she was forced to turn away in a coughing fit before she swallowed, "Leave us alone!"
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:53 pm
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The newcomer was an impressive size. Very impressive. It would be a decent fight but he was curious... was this one up for protecting his little slave? Regardless of her words- that's what she was in his own mind. The ring, the lack of survival skills, the stupidity in courage, they weren't traits of a survivalist nor of a typical rogue.
"You don't want to stand in my way...." He warned, flexing his claws. When Myuto didn't back down the lion took a bold step forward and flashed an impressive mouthful of teeth. "So be it... allow me to show you to the eternal darkness..."
Myuto shrugged out of his cloak, shedding one more thing that could give him a disadvantage in battle. The other lion stared at the scars surrounding his maw and snorted his amusement. "Chi. Get away from here. Now."
Throwing another roar, Myuto charged the other male and the two met mid-air, standing on their hind quarters as their paws exchanged hammer blows, claws and all. Both were evenly matched in strength it seemed and while Myuto had a size advantage, there was a blood lust in the eyes of the other male that more than made up for his disadvantage.
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 4:22 pm
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Eternal darkness. Good grief.
If the situation had been so damned dire, Chi might have snorted. However, as it was, she only managed to offer their assailant a strange glance before Myuto spoke up. She gasped loudly at him, butt was unable to fight him, given the fact that no sooner had he spoken up, that he launched himself forth, teeth and claws bared.
The two lions met mid air, standing on their hind legs, slamming each other with their paws and Chi, for the first time, feared for someone else's life. As a slave, she hadn't really been able to make durable bonds; it was true she'd had... well, not friends, but something, with the other slaves, but she'd never actually feared for them. Their meetings were too fleeting, slaves changed hands, troupes, and it was impossible to form bonds; those that did, inevitably went insane with worry. As such, most slaves turned their heads away when something bad happened; it was self preservation in a way.
Here, however, Chi stood motionless, her jaw hung open, and she couldn't, for the life of her, actually move to do anything.
Get away.
It rang in her mind; it was the clever thing to do. It was what she should do in order to survive. It was what he wanted her to do, too, and yet she couldn't move. She didn't dare turn her gaze away from the two fighting lions, "No," it was whispered, and then repeated in a growl as she looked around in an attempt to help; lift up sand, blind the other male. Something, anything that would give Myuto the edge in the fight, given that this wasn't even technically his fight that he was fighting, but hers. A snarl crawled up her throat as she rushed to the side and put a well placed kick into the dust and sand she'd fallen into previously, aiming it at Jelani's face and eyes.
If only she had strength.
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 4:36 pm
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The two males circled and boxed, clawing at eachother's face, shoulders, limbs, and paws as they continued to pummel eachother, roaring and snarling as they did so. A spray of sand interrupted the smaller lion's charge as sand flew into his eyes. Myuto stumbled back in shock then threw a desperate look over to his female companion. What the hell was she doing?! Was she insane?!
Jelani swore and fell back on his paws, blinking in agitation. "You...", he growled, his tone threatening violence, "YOU WENCH!"
The lion turned with a loud roar and threw a clawed paw down her way. He may have been unable to see for the moment, but he was no slouch even with that sense muddled. He knew the direction she'd been in, about how far away she stood, and his relative distance from her. Before the blow could land, however, something moved between his paw and the smaller female. He met with a harder body than he expected, tearing a good deal of flesh away from its shoulder in the process.
Just as suddenly, another paw tore out and met his jaw, throwing him back to the dirt.
Myuto swore as blood dripped down from his new wound into the dust. Gathering himself up, and forcing his weight on his now injured leg, the lion stood over the female once more and bared his teeth. "Get out of here..."
Jelani slowly stood himself up, blinking as tears filled his good eye in an attempt to flush out the sand. He rolled his jaw, testing it, and found that it was only bruised. He'd been lucky...
"Very well..." He wiped at his eye and gathered himself up. "Keep her. She's small for a breeder anyway. Her first litter will see her dead."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:35 am
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Chicanery saw her life flash through her mind's eye at that instant, and... she didn't quite like what she saw. Not at all. In fact, it was those images, those memories that clawed the wracked sob out of her as Jelani's claws made their way towards her. She winced, turning her head away as fast as she could; an instinctual reaction, an attempt to shield her facial features, her eyes...
Before the gold lion's paw could connect with her body, however, she felt, more than saw Myuto shove her away. He took the blow for her, his body now standing over her fallen one, her face on the ground, drops of blood slowly falling to land just a few inches away from her now opened, frightened eyes. From her vantage point on the ground, she watched Jelani land, having taken a rather forceful blow from Myuto, who snarled for him to leave.
She did not have the strength to push herself off the floor, and instead only just barely managed to drown another growled sob at Jelani's parting words. Her head turned away from the rogue, her face pressing to Myuto's arm, which she knew was injured, if the blood that kept on dripping beside her was any indication.
"He's right, you know," it was whispered only after the rogue left, "I'm useless."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:42 pm
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Myuto stood still as a statue, his teeth bared and his entire body ridged, ready to pounce at the drop of a twig if the monster decided to turn around. Blood trailed down from his injury, soaking through his leg and pooling around his paw. It had been a massive blow and the claws had gone in deep. It hurt terribly, even more so with his body tensed as it was, but to show weakness out here was to show an opening for attack and further retaliation.
While his frown never seemed to fade, the lion slowly relaxed, his head drooping. With a few limps forward, he retrieved his cloak and carefully re-wrapped his face and draiped the deep purple fabric over his back. His scars still shamed him, regardless of Chi's insistance to think better of them, and now he had a wound that could attract other rogues and provoke them into taking advantage of him.
Looking back to Chi, he shook his head and grunted. "Stop that. I don't ever want to hear you say something like that again." He limped forward, swallowing his wince as he did so. "Not all worthwhile things are given through the physical. Some of the gifts that we pass on to others effects the spirit or the mind. Before you, I had no purpose. I wandered with no destination, I lived on just to live on. Now I have to live for someone else."
He stopped himself short and averted his eyes. "We should find somewhere safe for the night."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:34 pm
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Her head remain on the ground, her gaze torn away from his form as he moved to pick up his cloak. Chicanery saw movement out the corner of an eye, but... that was about it. Her thoughts were inward, and she had no idea how to pick herself off the ground, metaphorically speaking; the rogue had not hurt her physically, but he'd wounded her in a deeper manner. The fact she was not bleeding made it all the worse, because there was no physical manifestation of the wound, and nothing she could use to treat it, cure it.
It was inside of her.
As Myuto moved towards her, speaking up, and yet, at the same time, barely just swallowing a wince, the small lioness turned her head and finally looked up at him. The spark was missing from her eyes, replaced instead with guilt, specially after her gaze flickered towards the blood that trailed down his paw, still silently dripping on the floor as he moved, aggravating the wound, "I'm sorry," she whispered, and it was hard to tell if she was apologizing for her own earlier words, or if she was apologizing for being useless, weak.
Still, to her credit, she managed to push herself up to all four, and then padded to him, nosing away the cloak and then licking the wound several times, the coppery, metallic taste in her mouth just making the situation all the much real to her; this did, in fact happen. She'd almost died tonight, "I'm sorry," she repeated, and this time it was clear she meant for the wound, as she licked it a few more time, taking away as much blood with each lap as she could, drying it, cleansing it of dirt that had made it's way there, "Let's stay here. The cave is fine... he won't be back. I'm sure of it, and if he does... he can't ambush us. He can only come from one direction," a small sigh, "Let's go inside."
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