Midnight's Shadow had his head lowered to the ground, looking under a bush at the quivering mass of fur that was the mouse he had chased in there. It stared out at him with two big blinking eyes. It was too far for him to snap up from where he stood, so he kept his muzzle under the branches as the rest of his body obligingly crouched down until his belly lay on the ground. He locked eyes with the mouse for a few moments before he took the opportunity to strike. The mouse never stood a chance. Teeth flashed forwards and wrapped around the poor rodent, snapping it's life out in a split second. He stood back up, chewing on the mouse happily. He had caught his little snack, and was now content. A few loud cracks escaped his lips as he snapped bones, but before long it was all down the gullet and moving on.
A rustle to his left made the buck turn around slowly, ears perked up and eyes squinting. There was definitely something there... He lowered his body a little and opened his mouth just enough to bare some teeth.
Webweave was hunkered down in the tree, clinging to the branch she sat on. She had no idea how she had gotten up here in the first place, but the even more difficult question was how she was going to get back down. Her hooves didn't provide her with much traction, and neither did the smooth branches of the mangrove she sat in. Looking down, she saw a black figure run muzzle-first into a bush, stand still for a moment, crouch, and come back out eating something. She couldn't tell what had happened, but she could guess that he had been chasing something small, caught it, and ate it, all really efficiently. Loud crunches wafted up to her and she could smell blood. She watched this figure closely and came to the conclusion that he had to be a kimeti. There were definitely things that were different about him... but the shape was right, and so were the dimensions. His fur was wilder than of the other males she had seen, and his eyes were more of an angry glowing red scar than anything, but he had to be a kimeti. The weirdest of all, though, was the fact that he was almost a living breathing shadow. He was completely black and moved like one. So busy scrutinizing this buck, Webweave lost her balance and slipped forwards, rustling the leaves around her and nearly falling out of the tree into the water below.
Midnight's Shadow crept forwards a few paces until he realized what he was looking at. The mass of yellow and blue in amongst the branches of the tree was a kimeti! And a tiny one at that! Confusion stole over his features for a moment as he wondered how it had managed to get itself all the way up there, but he quickly shook his head and embraced the grin full of teeth. He snarled up at the foal in a cold voice, "You wouldn't happen to be stuck up there, would you? Such a long ways up..."
Webweave could hear the mockery dripping in the dark male's voice. She was not about to put up with that, so she attempted to straighten out her front legs to pull herself into an upright-sitting position. She looked down at the male, puffed her chest out and opened her mouth to speak, but just then, her foot slipped. Foot went first, then leg and body followed, straight out of the tree towards the water below.
He had seen it coming. The second the little one sat up, he knew it was not going to end well. Midnight's Shadow watched it's foot slip and begin it's descent into the marsh water. He took a few steps backwards before it made contact with the surface of the water. It flailed all of it's limbs on the way down, and landed with a big splash. The edges of his lips curled upwards, but apart from that he kept silent, not quite sure if the little one had taken the fall well. He waited, holding his breath, for the foal to resurface.
She came up spluttering, flailing her front limbs about, splashing water everywhere. She paddled her way over to the edge of the water and dragged herself out, spitting water out and blinking her eyes clear of the liquid. Water came off the little foal in steady streams creating a pool at her feet. She looked down at it then closed her eyes and shook off, spraying the black buck with droplets of water. Her fur came out looking extremely fluffy and big, but all she did was look up at the buck towering over her, puff up her chest and reply in an indignant tone, "Of course I wasn't stuck."
He shut his eyes when the foal shook off, not wanting to get any of the water in them. He watched the little thing puff out it's chest and speak to him. He stood twice it's height, and it just looked up at him and responded calmly! After that fall! He was definitely shocked and confused at the little foal's confidence. He took one step back and lowered his head so that he didn't tower quite as much as before and replied huskily, "Are you sure, Little Foal? Did you mean to fall like that, too?" He grinned, showing his pearly white teeth in the process. His tail lazily swished back and forth as he looked down at the tiny kimeti whom he now knew to be a girl after it's indignant declaration.
If it was at all possible, she stood a little taller and puffed her chest out a little more, trying to look bigger than she was. In her tiny angry tone she replied, "Yes! All part of the plan." And she turned to face away from the big black buck and took a step or two in that direction. She was done here. Embarrassed, wet, and rather indignant, the little foal just wanted to make her way towards her den and nap. She was tired.
Midnight's Shadow was taken over by surprise and confusion. How could such a tiny little thing not be scared of him? He had instilled fear in bucks four times her size! And yet there she was, standing as tall as she could speaking down to him from below. He shook his head and focused back on where the little foal was standing and had to blink a few times to realize she had moved. He looked up and saw her walking away... Wait! Walking away? He cantered a few steps to catch up with the tiny kimeti and easily kept pace with her: one of his steps taking up two or three of hers. "What were you doing up there? In that tree? And how did you get up there?"
Clip-clopping of hooves told her that the buck had not yet left her alone. She looked over at him when he pulled up beside her but didn't pause, just kept moving forwards. Well, more precisely, she looked over at his knees. Her nose was about level with those. She chose not to reply to the stranger's questions, and instead began a canter of her own, wanting to get home faster.
She began to canter, and so to keep up Midnight's Shadow change step into a quick walk. But she still wasn't answering his questions! He had forgotten all about being scary and intimidating, and blurted out more questions. "But you were up so high! And you fell when I got close. Why did you fall? Who helped you get up there? How did you manage to cling to the tree for even that long?"
Still, Webweave ignored the stranger. Not a peep escaped her lips, she just kept on the path home. Her brow was beginning to furrow, though, as she was very quickly getting annoyed that the buck was still there. She just wanted to be left alone after all that.
Midnight's Shadow was growing very upset that the little kimeti was obstaining from any answers. He just wanted to know! Hell, he wasn't even trying to scare the poor thing into telling him! He just didn't understand why she wouldn't talk to him anymore. She spoke earlier, so he knew she could, she just wouldn't. This wasn't working, so he tried another approach.
He upped his speed just enough so that he could dart out in front of the foal and turn around to face her all in one fluid movement. He brought his muzzle down to her level, and by doing so, sunk his front half down by quite the degree. Rather angrily he said, "Why aren't you answering my questions? Aren't you scared of me?"
When he jumped out in front of her, she got rather startled, but calmly replied to his question. At least the last one. "No." Well, it was an answer, wasn't it? She just stood there patiently and waited for a chance to escape, ears back and tail wagging.
A growl escaped him when she gave him a one-word answer. He hated those. What kind of an answer was no? Just no? No explanation with it? His lips curled back from his fanged teeth and his head came up just the tiniest bit. "Why not? I'm four times your size, if not more. Stronger, faster, bigger than you."
As the buck spoke, his head went further and further up, creating a larger space between his legs by the word. She dared not look directly at it until she was ready to dart, and when she did, she was the speediest little foal you've ever seen. She ran with all her might through his legs, under him and straight into the underbrush to the left. She kept running until she made it to a mound of rocks that she knew held a tunnel underneath them. This tunnel, she knew, was empty, but she also knew that it would be too small for the black buck to fit into.
She took off without any form of notice, and when she took off, she had quite the little speed burst. Midnight's Shadow was used to giving chase, but this one had taken him by complete surprise, and so he lagged by a few seconds and got to the rocks just after she had slipped under them. He desperately tried to dig his way in, but to no avail. He was just too big, so he took one last shot and yelled after her down the tunnel. "Wait! You didn't even tell me your name!" He stood upright after a moment, and hung his head to murmur to himself, "I just wanted some answers..." The buck was thoroughly confused and feeling kind of empty, so he decided to call it a day. He started off towards his home to have a snack and mull today's events over. But he vowed to find this kimeti again, to get the answers he wanted and to know.
