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 Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:05 pm
 Suspended-in-Twilight padded onto the unfamiliar terrain. Pale tan dirt stretched into an endless river. He could not see the other bank..had he finally reached the sea? Was this truly sand underneath his hooves? His dry lips cracked as he smiled. It stung as blood trickled from the parched flesh. He licked his lips, providing a moment's moisture and tasted his blood.
He pawed at the sand and marveled at how easily it moved aside, like air. It was so unlike the mud and dirt that now laid behind him. He looked at the sparse seagrass that dotted the shore. He inspected a shell that lay at his hooves and wondered what produced such a delicate trinket. He picked it up and held it in his mouth for some time, determined to keep it as a souvenir at the very least. No, he would not leave this place. He was determined to prove worthy of staying.
He swayed his head from side to side, panning the landscape. It was beautiful, new. The waves lapped onto the shore, white foam crashing on the beach. He took a deep breath of ocean air. He would make this his home. But where was the kimeti he was to meet?
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Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:23 pm
 Perhaps the visitor's tired eyes will resolve, in time, a strange shape far out on the water: a little dark cluster, nearly invisible, that seems to float and move about on distant breakers. Bitterleaf and Jasper stand on a sandbar, and it is Jasper's keen eyes that see the faraway stranger first. He makes a noiseless movement and, equally wordless, his mother plunges into the surf, Jasper close behind her. They have honed this skill, now. It is not one that comes naturally to Kimeti. Swimming, yes: short paddles in the swamp's shallow waters, to cross from one marshy area to the next. Sometimes even prolonged, water-treading struggles not to drown, when the rains fell hard. But this is a different sport entirely: invigorating and tiring. The two bodies, pounded into stone by a life of hardship and Bitterleaf's merciless demands on their abilities, fight against the breakers, the salt foam flying into their faces. They do so stoically, expressions unchanging, and silently. The sea birds wheel overhead.  As they approach the beach--and the stranger--Bitterleaf is the first to rise from the surf and take steps onto the sand, the water pouring off of her slim, wiry body; running from the dark tendrils of the mane curled against the harsh planes of her skull. When Jasper erupts behind her, his powerful body, thickly muscled and towering, seems like a leviathan rising from the deeps. On both of them, strings of dark red seaweed cling, and where it passes over Jasper's neck and Bitterleaf's shoulder it glows, lit by the feathery markings there, which are otherwise lost in the brilliant sunlight. They stand, nearly side-by-side--the younger hanging just behind his mother, respectful, alert, wordless--and it is Bitterleaf who speaks first. Her voice sounds like a hoof dragged against the bark of a tree: grated and rough, but somehow alluring, deeper than expected, for a doe. "Do you come to test yourself?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:57 pm
Suspended-in-Twilight continued to search for any form of kimeti. He saw rocks, crashing waves, seabirds, moving rocks, sands, shells...moving rocks? He whipped his head back to see two figures far off on a sandbar. They slipped into the water below and began swimming his way. The green buck stood his ground and readied himself, unsure of what to make of them. As they grew closer, he could better make out what they were. A slate blue doe with a patch of hair on her crown. A white and teal buck behind her. They powered through the water in a method foreign to the buck. He had swam plenty of times in the deep swamp bogs, as murky and thick as they were. It strengthened his legs, but the waves could prove powerful. Was he daunted? Far from it. He was eager. Almost desperate to prove himself to the challenging sea. The two kimeti emerged from the ocean, the doe looked stronger than any he had seen. The buck was even more massive than he had thought. It filled him with a sort of envy. A rivalry grew within him. And yet he also found himself looking up to the buck as something he wanted to attain for himself. Strength, power.
When the doe asked her question, the buck listened quietly. Her voice was not quite what he expected, but who was he to judge. It gave her character. He only nodded, looking back and forth between the doe and buck.
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Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 7:33 pm
Bitterleaf nods, and continues doing so as she walks a slow circle around Suspended-in-Twilight, Jasper remaining motionless. Her inscrutable eyes pass along the stranger's shape; her nostrils flare as she approaches within a few feet.
With the two Kimeti this close, it might be deduced that they are somehow related. There is not only a list of physical similarities, including the phosphorescent patches climbing their shoulders: there is a similarity in stance, even in scent. And a marked, striking similarity in those two hard faces.
As Bitterleaf draws back to Jasper's side, she tosses her head, although her hair is too wet to be shaken from her face. It is difficult to say whether the gesture is one of acceptance or dismissal. "You know, then, what our tribe requires for you to join us here?" That he might have had word does not surprise her. She has left a trail of rejects from one end of the swamp to the other.
Jasper has still not spoken. There is a sort of bald-faced straightforwardness to them that suggests that either or both is entirely ready, with no preparation, to make that arduous trek from one end of the swamp to the other. The visitor's bloodied lips and general appearance, to Bitterleaf's trained eye, tell the story of his own willingness to push himself.
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Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:48 pm
Suspended-in-Twilight watched as the doe began to pace around him. Realizing she was examining him, he straightened his posture slightly. His eyes fell on the buck, who remained silent and stoic. He could not help but again notice the mass of tight muscles on the bucks body. He also noticed the glowing markings on his neck. As the doe circled around and stood by the buck. He realized their similarities. Perhaps younger brother and older sister, maybe mother and son? They must share a tight bond, living together in this inhospitable environment, fighting for survival together, every day. A small smile cracked on his lips, breaking apart his skin once more. Slightly embarrassed by the droplets of blood, he licked his lips again, wishing he had brought some of the thick-leaved swamp plant that held a healing jelly inside.
The doe asked another question, and the buck straightened up once more. "I have heard of it. A patrol, right? A buck had told me of the Tribewalkers and their test. But I am confident I can do it." His hoof absent-mindedly scratched the adjacent one. Then he bent his head down to pick off a tick. It had taken root there this morning but only now began to irritate him. Spitting it out quietly, he returned upright and looked to the two blue-tinted kimeti for any sign of approval or..dare he say it...rejection.
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:00 pm
Bitterleaf is her usual abrupt self. She doesn't have to ask to see with her own eyes, plainly, that here is a buck who understands what life on the coast has to offer. "We'll begin at nightfall. Jasper will stay here until we return. Not so that you may rest, although you might find time to. I have business to finish here. You will help us scrape at the water-furrow. We collect the rainfall there."
She turns towards a rocky patch on the coastline, distantly visible. "I am Bitterleaf." No formal introductions; no rituals. She continues: "We will rest intermittently and stop to hunt when necessary, and we will eat before we leave on fish you will learn to catch in the tide pools. Water will no longer be a hardship within two days or less, as you know yourself, having come this far. We will make every effort to bring others to our sides on the way, but should we fail, we will return alone. Where in the swamp do you hail from, and what is your name?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:20 pm
Suspended-in-Twilight nodded at every sentence, noting her words in his head. She was straightforward and brief, brevity was unnecessary. He noted the buck's name, Jasper, obviously second in charge. He noted her name, Bitterleaf, somewhat fitting to her persona, but he didn't complain. In fact, he enjoyed it. He followed her towards the craggy rocks on the coastline, his strong body thudding against the soft sand. His face grew into a determined expression similar to the one Bitterleaf seemed to wear permanently. "I hail from the near-center of the swamp, a rocky outcropping surrounded on three sides by the swamp water. My name is Suspended-in-Twilight, though that may be lengthy, so you may call me Wolf if you wish." And he continued to follow the doe, eager to get to work.
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