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 Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:41 pm
It was a simple autumn day for the young mare. Just a suncircle ago she'd left her home herd to "get her own life." Really, she was just fed up with her parents, siblings, and the rest of the herd. Why couldn't they see that she wasn't like them? Sure, she would give stallions respect, but it wasn't like she would do anything for them at all. Especially those tailchasers; if they came near, they'd get a strong kick in the chest, stronger than her or not. And at least she had a horn to help protect her. But still. At home it had always been "Rayenn, be nice to the stallions." "Rayenn, be respectful and do as your father asks." Even her own brothers got more respect than she. Her sisters, of course, thought it all fine and dandy. But the overo mare had always felt...well, that something was missing. That she could be doing more than she was then. So of course, once she was able to, she headed out on her own, to hopefully forge her own way. If she met a respectful stallion or kind herd, great. But any normal, egg-wanting stallion? Not on your life.
She walked along in the forest, at a gait so fast that she was nearly trotting. Why, she didn't know. Maybe it was nerves. So many sounds out here, and she was alone. Her parents had told her of the Kirkani; deranged kirin that ate their own kind. She'd heard of Pyrin too, but they were really no danger, unless you truly ticked them off. Kirkani, though...she hoped she never met one, at least not alone. The mare looked about, black ears flicking from side to side, her red-brown eyes wide as she glanced about, her tail lashing occasionally.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 1:06 pm
"Oh no you don't." The mare stepped on the lion's leg making it scream again, "I'm too hungry to let you get away so soon."
The lion made a swipe at the mare before she headed it to make the lion stop moving for a while. A grin came to her again, as she lapped at the bleeding wound she had created. It was shallow at best, but still bled plenty. Eyes rolling back the mare lost herself in her feeding, though her ears twitched hearing the approaching steps of someone else within the forest. Not moving, she listened, still feeding, the blood stung at her taste buds, too good to pass up...
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 1:27 pm
As Rayenn came closer to the huntress and her prey, completely oblivious of them, she heard a chilling scream. In an instant she had skittered backwards and stopped, ears twitching from side to side incredibly quickly, searching for the source of the sound. And in that instant, she smelled it. Blood. Her ears instantly went back, her head lowered, and she crept forward. Half of her was yelling to run away, to stay far away from whatever was bleeding and screaming. The other half was consumed by curiosity, wondering what on earth could have made these sounds and smells. It was when she finally went around a corner that she saw the carnage.
A lone mare, clearly bay, stood over a lion. On her back was a gold blanket, with what appeared to be bloodstains in it; Rayenn hoped not. Red vine-like things wrapped around her short tail and haunches, and beaded necklaces were around her lowered neck. She could just see a skull, adorned with two back-pointing horns, on the mare's head. The lion itself was wounded, cuts scattered over its body, each one bleeding profusely. And the mare was lapping at that blood. The younger mare shivered and stepped back. Unfortunately, a branch cracked as her hoof landed in a bad spot, and she took a few steps forward instinctively, putting her right in the view of the stranger. Her eyes were wide and she froze, not knowing what would happen in the presence of this crazed kirin.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 1:46 pm
The snapping of a twig made her stop, an ear twitching some. Lifting her head away from the lion, eyes rolling back to normal. Someone else was out there, glancing around she caught a glimpse of the frightened mare. Licking the blood from her lips, Sauda straightened herself up, watching. What was THAT one doing here? It certainly came at the wrong time. Behind her, Sauda could hear the lion stirring and struggling to get up. Pity, it had tasted good, but it seemed something else presented itself to her.
"You know, you have really bad timing." Sauda stated as she turned her head to wipe her mouth on the fabric on her back. Causing another stain that would never come out, the others were well faded by now, but still showed what made them. "Then again, lions blood can only go so far. Hmm?" Blood red eyes gazed at the young mare before her, oh how tempting this was and perhaps really easy too? She would have to wait and see...
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:08 pm
Rayenn looked to the lion in horror as it struggled. Much as she despised them, having had her brother wounded and nearly killed by one, this one was in pain. Extreme pain. It would likely die from blood loss, and that did not seem like a pleasant way to go. Even now, she could see pain in its amber eyes. And then all her attention was turned to the odd mare as she stood and looked at the youngster. She turned and wiped her maw on the blanket. Ah, so that was why it was spotted with the redness. Rayenn gulped. Apparently this was not a mare to be messed with. She'd likely kill her in a heartbeat. "I--I..." she stammered, until her normal persona took over. She drew herself up and glared back. "I would guess so, seeing as I'm witnessing a lion get slain by a kirin." She said it with both respect and slight contempt, as if it was both a feat and a cowardly thing to do. "As for lions' blood, I wouldn't know. I've never tasted it. Do you see bloodstains on me? No, I don't think so." That look...it scared her half to death, though she struggled not to show it. It was like...like she was a Kirkani, sizing up the young mare for her next meal. She shook her neck, letting the black and white mane flutter. "I really do hope you're not one to drink my blood, because I'd like to keep it, thank you very much. It would be kind of hard to go about my days with half my life source gone, you know?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:32 pm
Sauda's gaze averted some, though she could look now and again towards the other's neck. It would have been much easier if she weren't bound by certain rules. She watched as the younger mare's persona changed from frightened to almost courageous. Well, not completely it would appear, the best the mare tried to hide her fear, Sauda could sense something was amiss. Tilting her head some, the gave a small yet bloody smile.
"Come now, I'm not going to bite," Smooth, calm, yea she was trying well to not seem all that scary. "Well not yet anyways, and perhaps not you at all. Its all a matter if something else come along I suppose."
Sauda looked behind herself again at the lion that was still laying there. Ah well, If it died, it died, if not then it would see another sunrise. Walking away from the discarded lion, Sauda traveled close to the black and white mare, she did actually smell good too...
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:43 pm
The youngster's ears flipped back as she noticed the other mare's line of sight. Staring right at them, she followed their gaze as best she could, all the way to...her neck. Of course. Rayenn sighed inwardly. She should have guessed. Her throat and neck--that was her weakest point. Well, her neck had the plates, but she knew that right under her jaw, where there was an angle from head to neck, there was a weak spot, unprotected by her plates. She'd seen kirin die by being bitten right there; even her father had killed marauding stallions by striking that little spot. And she was sure this mare was well trained in the art of attacking the weakest places.
"Oh goody, I get to wait in anticipation for a bite," she said sarcastically. Somehow, it made her feel less afraid, and unconsciously she felt the fear slipping away. "Let's hope something else does come along, then, right?" She stomped her white-splashed hind leg as the mare approached. "By the way, what's your name? Best I know, so if I survive I can warn others...or make you into a scary story for foals." Her brow cocked, and a hint of a smirk appeared on her maw. She was starting to like this.
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:01 pm
Head pulled itself back some as blood colored eyes blanked within their sockets as the mare before her certainly did have a certain wit about her. But this 'daze' only lasted as long as a fly, or just about, after a couple of seconds... She broke out in laughter. Her laughter was cracked, almost crow like, mouth gaping open revealing bloodied teeth, even her breath was ripe with the smell. The crow like laugh grew louder until the fowl over head scattered, abruptly she stopped.
"Witty one aren't we?" she asked, a bloody smile towards the mare. "I don't 'feed' on foals, they are a treasure to protect. Be they my own or someone elses."
Sauda wasn't in the least trained to bite anyone in a certain place, but her horns did to enough damaged on their own if she's able to hook them onto something and yank. Behind her the lion had staggered away, leaving them alone, it would survive for the most part. She never 'hunted' the same best twice in a row. But now that her blood quota was just about completed, she could have taken a bit more if she hadn't been disrupted without killing the beast.
"Now what to do... My quota has been cut short." She almost pouted. "But my name's Sauda, youngling and I don't much like feeding off my own kind unless... They offer it." Turning some, she headed away from the mare, her head low as she seemed to be searching for something along the ground.
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:07 pm
Rayenn's black-tufted auds flicked back and her eyes narrowed in disgust as the stranger laughed. Well...more of an evil cackle. Her bloodred eyes closed, but bloody fangs--to the youngster they were indeed fangs--took their place as a splash of color. Even from here she could smell her breath; like death it was, smelling of blood and flesh and nasty. That was at least what the mare thought of it as; she didn't know that Sauda didn't actually eat other creatures, but she imagined it. She felt relief when the other mare clamped her maw shut, the laughter and nauseous smell soon vanishing. One ear flicked forward; was she actually giving Rayenn a compliment? And her other comment was good as well, at least she didn't kill or hurt foals. No matter how much Rayenn found the little buggers annoying and a strange thing to want to create, it somehow made her relax and like the weird one for the fact that she didn't hurt them.
The patched mare shot a glance to the lion as it retreated, clearly too injured to try to attack the kirin. She was surprised; they might have made an easy snack, and he was bound to be hungry. Then it occurred to her that it was good that he left; the two would survive for another day. At least, if the stranger didn't eat her first. One brow cocked as her attention was drawn back to the blood-sucker. "Your quota? You have a quota for how much blood you take. Just...just wow." And then her name. Sauda. Huh. Interesting. "Well...I guess I have to be civil then, if you're being such. I'm Rayenn, and...I'm sorry to tell you, but I won't be offering my blood anytime soon, thanks." She watched as Sauda headed off, deeper into the trees. She followed at a slow pace, making sure to keep a good distance between her and Sauda; with luck, it was a little longer than the older mare could lunge. "What are you...let me guess, you're searching for something else, right? To fill your "quota". Yeah." She thought a little as she walked along, until a question suddenly formed and she blurted it out without thinking. "What kind of creature do you like to eat most? Like, your favorite?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 5:13 pm
Head swaying to one side, she glanced back towards the mare, Rayenn? Was that what she had said? Yes, that was it, Sauda had to remember that. Stopping where she was, and head lifting away from the ground. Her chin pulling in close to her scaled neck, giving a most strange look past the bone over her face. Favorite creature to hunt? Surely this youngster had better sense then that, well maybe not since they had only just met.
"I don't really hunt just one creature, it's just really anything that happens to cross my path." She stated clearly lowering her head a little to pick at the fangs that hung about her neck. "But the lions have a certain taste about them that tickles my fancy." An ear pivoted towards the area around them, listening for anything that was moving, nothing. Only just the creatures that hid within the branches over head, safer up there. "Nah, the Quota will do for this moon cycle, or rather half moon cycle. Times have really changed..."
Thoughts of her history flooded back to her forward thinking, she had been given blood from some beast the humans kept every moon cycle, but the ritual was changed to every half moon cycle. Pft, not that it made much of a difference, she enjoyed how the strange humans always bowed to her, one offering her the bowl. While she was lost within her past, her mouth had begun to water, oh how she wished she were still home... From all this thinking, she hadn't herd what else Rayenn had said, then again she lost all track of everything. Sauda's eyes looked distant, ears falling back a little and a small steam of saliva escaped the side of her mouth and dripped from her chin.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:45 pm
Rayenn stopped as the other mare did, her tufted tail swishing a little. This stranger's constant change in behavior had her somewhat annoyed, but mostly freaked out. She could count on her father being protective, her brothers pranksters, her mother plain and sweet and submissive. She could only count on one thing with this one: unpredictability. And that set her on edge.
That, and the random question she'd asked. Why? Why had that popped out of her weird little mind and come out through her maw? That could have made the older mare turn on her, and kill her. Even though she was barely so, she was still a mare, and adult, and so Sauda wouldn't think of her as a foal to be cherished. She'd see her as a meal, more likely. "Lions..." she muttered, looking off into the trees a ways as she thought that over. Odd; prey eating predator, when it should be the other way around. Of course, most kirin didn't drink blood, either. And then she started to drool. "Um..." she started, staring at the little stream of saliva, starting to emerge from her rotten-smelling maw. The dazed look scared her, as well. Was this the start to a feeding frenzy or something? She took a few steps back, until her true nature got the better of her, and with a loud voice she exclaimed, "Ewww, you're drooling." She knew not why; she only knew that something was making Sauda act this way, and it was bound to be something wonderful, by the way she was acting.
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:53 pm
Eyes still lost within the memories of her not so distant past, Sauda turned her head toward the mare that was standing not too far away. Her bloody red eyes still looking distant and almost primal before her tongue snaked out of her lips and over them to collect what it was that had escaped. An ear flicking a little, she reached back and wiped her chin off on the cloth that laid over her back, convenient thing it was. It was the thoughts of other things that brought her back into the reality that she was no longer with those whom gave her just about everything she could have ever wanted.
"Sorry 'bout that. Seems that the past caught up with me for a moment. A hard thing to forget, being pampered that is..." Shaking her head, Sauda turned away again headed down the path. "Now, where is that little bugger..." She muttered to herself, eyes flicking back and forth within their sockets.
She was looking for a certain herb, something that could sate the feeling that was occurring within her belly, ack did she ever hate it when this happened. Sometimes the blood she took didn't seem to really agree with her. So much for a balanced diet, shaking the hair from her eyes she kept searching. An ear flicking backwards to listen and see if she were being followed. She didn't think this younger mare would leave her be so easily, so she would endure the company.
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Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 5:40 pm
The corner of Rayenn's maw opened and turned down as Sauda licked the drool off of her own maw and wiped it on the blanket. This mare was just...weird. So very, very weird. Weird and odd and dangerous. Maybe she should just get away now, when she had the chance...but her curiosity wouldn't let her. "Pampered?" she repeated. "You were pampered? By who?" Pampered. Huh. She herself had never been pampered; really, it was the stallions who were. Mares were just there for egg creating, and as prizes for the stallions. Which was exactly why she'd run away; she didn't want to be just a prize. She wanted to be the only one in a stallion's life, the only reason he lived, his only mate. She wouldn't have gotten that from her birth herd. Wait...what was it Sauda had said? "What little bugger? What are you looking for? Maybe I can help." Oh goodness, she actually said that? Why was it that her mouth ran away from her so many times? Why?!
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Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 7:20 pm
Giving the most strangest of looks back to the youngster behind her, Sauda's head was practically upside down. The horns to her mask just about planting themselves into the earth beneath her hooves. The blood colored eyes just about glowing within the dark sockets of the mask before she looked away once more, her bobbed tail flicking lightly over her flank.
"I was pampered by those that seemed to think of me as some goddess reborn." She stated dryly. "I was something to be cherished back at my homelands. Where humans live, but it seemed that not ALL of them thought the same thing." Shrugging a little she straightened herself up, the beaded necklaces clattering together as she did. "I had no one else back there, and really no one else here either. There just don't seem to be any that are really worth looking at."
Sauda gave another shrug as she turned half way back towards Rayenn, something told her that this one wasn't too diferent. But then again, her gut feelings were always wrong, just about ninety percent of the time at least. Shaking her masked head, she looked back the way she was heading. She was seeking something, but she wasn't quite sure how to exactly describe it to Rayenn. It was an exotic herb that she rarely found, but maybe that was because she rarely left her swamp in the first place.
"I hunt for something, a herb that grows only when the air turns cold and the nights moonless. A very difficult one to find, I've only found it in one place and that place has been picked clean. The herb is called Shadow's Heart, a nasty tasting thing I can tell you. But goes well after a metallic meal." She was referring to the blood she had taken from the lion, but thought the mention of blood would set this one off.
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 12:39 pm
If the mare's appearance hadn't been so terrifying, Rayenn would have laughed. Her brothers had done the same thing a few times--turning their head upside down and between their front legs, and sticking their tongues out at her. As she was the youngest, she had been at the perfect height to see this without lowering her own head too much, and it had elicted many a laugh. Of course, with Sauda's skull, red eyes, and bloody blanket draped over her back, it was anything but funny.
Her words, however, startled the young mare. Cherished? This strange, bloody creature had been cherished, and pampered? They thought she was a goddess reborn. How laughable. Probably the goddess of death, or blood, or something else stupid and scary like that. Humans were so odd--not that she would know, of course, since she had never been around them, much less seen them. Her final sentence, though, echoed Rayenn's own thoughts, much to her surprise. She didn't have anyone in her herd, and there was no one else out here. "I guess we're kind of the same, then?" she said without warning. Ack, curse my fool mouth!
Then came Sauda's description of the herb. It sounded very, very odd--only growing on a cold, moonless night? She wondered what happened in the spring and summer when the mare drank blood. Probably had a heck of a time getting through the day. One eye narrowed. "A 'metallic' meal? So now blood is metallic. Okay, then." She took a few steps around, coming up on her flank, though still some distance away. "And I'm wondering what you do in summer, if this...'Shadow's Heart', isn't growing." She glanced around a bit. "Well then, if it's so difficult to find, I guess we should start looking."
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