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 Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:20 pm
 The night was wearing on, the sky fading into silvery paleness as a promise of future sunrise. The cool air would be warming up in a few hours and the sounds of morning would be gearing up, but for the moment all was silence and still. Nimhglas sat motionless, eyes close, ears flicking as the only movement. He'd sat there for much of the night, ignoring hunger and thirst in order to feed a more important craving.
It was his insatiable love of the world again, driving him to distraction. Sound, smells, every ripple of the grasses was delight and rapture, until the joy was enough to nearly burst through his chest. The idea had come that maybe if he found the quietest, stillest moment of the world, his feelings might finally come to rest, and he might be able to contemplate things without distraction. So he sat, straining to hear absolute nothingness. When would it come, just before dawn? Would it come at all?
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:10 pm
 (He's not certed yet, sorry) Full from sneaking up on a small family of sleeping rabbits, Koto walked through a small patch of weeds making plenty of noise. His mind wondered from one thought lazily along to another, who can actually think on a full stomach?
A really loud noise echoed out through the valley. He froze and looked around trying to find out where it came from. Tracing the thoughts in his memory came up fruitless; the noise, to his memory came from all directions then he remembered feeling relief for a brief second. Oh. Duh. Koto burped and didn't even register.
Now with a silly smirk on his face, he continued walking a bit more quiet then before.
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:24 pm
All his senses straining towards the silence, the sudden noise nearly made Nimhglas crawl out of his fur. It was only his intense concentration on staying still that diminished his leap of startlement into a mere twitch, but it still shuddered through his body and left him quite jarred and confused. He shook his head mildly just to remind himself that he still had one.
Where had that strange sound come from? One curiosity was dropped for another, and he slunk through the grasses carefully, towards where he could hear rustling. Some sort of large creature perhaps. It wasn't a roar, though it sounded a little similar. What strangeness would this night bring? Peeking his nose up over the bushline, he registered a large piebald face and blinked in surprise. The markings distorted his perception, and the darkness didn't help. Was it a strange wildebeast? He was too upwind to tell.
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:50 pm
Night time is always so quiet, especially this particular time because the night-dwellers are settling down before the sun comes up and sun-dwellers are getting those last precious hours of sleep before they are awoken by cubs, mates or duties. It's perfect for sneaking around or surprising someone.
But big Koto was totally alone with no friends and no family to speak of. So as any fun-spirited and totally un-sour beast on these lands would do, he was going to sing.
Starting with a small melody he swished his tail in beat to the tones he began to hum and in no time at all he would be singing as he walked towards the bushes.
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Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 10:36 am
Nimhglas stalked the strange creature, following closely behind, watching its movements with rapt attention. His position upwind would give him away eventually, but the air wasn't moving much tonight so maybe not for awhile. He could tell now it was a lion, and a male. He'd seen many strange colored beasts before, but never markings quite like these. They were fascinating. Was that a pale red or a pink? He'd never seen pink before, except on birds.
The humming eased his few concerns. He'd never met a creature who made music and was still vicious tempered. Hopefully that meant he wouldn't be chased for his life by the larger predator tonight. Throwing caution aside, he joined in, crooning low and matching his tune as harmony to the lion's melody. Music in and off itself was a joy worth pursuing, a task always worthwhile. And it was the fastest way he'd found to make new friends.
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:37 pm
Hearing the humming from another being he paused dead in his tracks and pivoted quickly on his haunches towards the noise. Who could that be, how long were they following and was he going to have to defend himself?
His hackles were up instantly until he honed in on the creature. What was that? Green Hyena. Having never met a hyena he waited for the other to make a move. He was not aggressive, just preconscious and silent.
If this hyena was aggressive he'd have to do that in which he tried to avoid at all costs; fight. He wasn't bad at it, he just didn't like the repercussions of hurting another. If it was harmless, then he would apologize and hopefully make a new friend.
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 7:46 pm
Nimhglas took the lion swinging around without so much as flinching, and stood there blinking at it amicably, simply waiting. Their communal humming had died out almost immediately, which was a pity. Perhaps if he put the creature at ease they could continue. He sat down in the grasses where he'd stopped and cocked his head, watching the lion with his hyena half-smile, eyes almost mischievous.
"It walks these paths alone and sings melodies to the night sky," he crooned, and as usual his words went wherever they wanted without consulting his brain. He'd learned to just go with it and hope he was understood. "And also makes mighty noises which are not quite roars. This one would gladly know what it sings about? Is there a lost lady lion in the sky that needs wooing, her shape pecked out in stars?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:03 pm
The deep voice was definetly a males, and for the first time the tone was reassuring. He shook his mane out of all the negativity and returned the smirk on his own lion maw. The words he spoke were melodic and whimsical. As to not spoil he mood he walked closer, answering the call.
"There is not one, buy many lions from this one's past which demand consoling for the brutal ending they suffered which it did not. It consoles them with the only form of communication it knows how to pass to the after life; song." He ended with a nod, that surely answered the question on the table.
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:12 pm
Resisting the urge to tilt his head in confusion until it snapped off his neck, Nimhglas chuckled to himself. This lion was almost too lyrical in his wording to be understood. Was that how he sounded to others? He would endeavor to fully grasp the lion's meanings, then, out of respect for the difficulties he must put others through. And he had to admit that it did set a wonderful mood to the conversation. Aside from the 'Brutal endings' mentioned.
"May notes please long dead ears, then," Nimhglas murmered, and moaned a low note to echo in the empty air. He'd never stayed in one place long enough to have lost someone important, and he'd never taken life in battle, but he respected death. "The pink male uses uplifting harmonies to soothe his ghosts? Do they haunt in dreams and cause discomfort? One must not run from them, or they give chase. It encourages them."
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:09 pm
Koto knew that he sounded rediculous, but he was no lyricist. But again he tried to respond in kind.
"Indeed, thank you. This pink male's name is Kifalmen'Koto. But you may call me Koto. And what of the whimsical hyena?" No hyena would have a boring name like Gaas or something. The lion flipped his pink hair out of his eyes so that he was more focused to catch the hopefully unique name.
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:31 pm
"Koto will be called, Ghost Singer," Nimhglas greeted him, bowing in deference. "This one is Nimhglas, who is far away green marsh and swamp where dead trees sink in mire. The water and name are poison, the creature is not." He cracked a friendly smile to prove it, showing off his rarely broken good mood. "All must drink a bitter tonic from time to time, or not taste how sweet the pure water is. But there is no black water tonight."
Convinced of the lion's good humor, he hopped up and trotted a rocking step around him, singing tunelessly to match his rhythm. His hopes to chase the perfect moment of silence were long broken now; he'd probably missed it this night anyway. He would distract himself with conversation and company instead. "What path walks Singer Called Koto? Not towards the mountains of Altus where green paws might go, the hyenas there would rend him surely."
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:54 pm
"The name fits well, thank you once again Nimhglas." He bowed back with a growing smile across his face and nodded as the well-spoken hyena educated him. Words were not always his game, but tunes on the other hand were right up his alley, so when he began dancing around with a tune he jumped right in as if they were old friends.
Koto had the tune in which it seemed the melody Nimhglas was gracefully lacking. It was a good distraction to allow him to come up with a cleverly worded answer.
"Koto's only wish is to stay out trouble even though mischief seems seek me out." Playfully he gave the hyena a look as to suggest he was one such example of the mischief that was drawn to him.
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:05 pm
Laughing in between notes, Nimhglas bounced along in circles, jumping gleefully into a bond with the lion without any thoughts of hesitation. He embraced any offered kinship with the other carnivorous creatures, be they hyena or lion, or even the little genet. There was so much joy to be found in brotherhood that even receiving aggression from others only tempered his empathy a little. So when a dance was offered, he danced.
"Staying out will find you in," he teased. "Run far enough and your feet will come full circle. There is only so much world to hide in." He accepted the lion's vague accusation with a mild shrug. "Avoid the Altus mountains then, Singer Called Koto. Avoid also dark waters in marsh. There are crocodiles. More tangible than your ghosts, this one thinks." He cackled as if he'd just made a joke, and frolicked about, singing. "Snap, snap, you've lost your leg. Gone to feed a lizard's egg."
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:33 pm
While the hyena spoke, Koto continued on with the tune only broken by a chuckle which was picked right back up.
While humming and almost beat boxing along with it to keep a nice round beat while the other sang broken by another fit of laughter by the lyrics. You'd probably never guessed that they had just met.
"Thank you, I'll make sure to stay out of there. My ghosts are my inspiration to learn about the world and seek out the one they told me would be waiting." He rolled his eyes, still chuckling a bit replaying the lyrics in his head. "Some seers.."
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:59 pm
"Some seers in the bier thought to steer a steer to clear a rotting log that frogs would hog in summer rains," Nimhglas interjected, his words drifting as aimlessly as his feet. "One waits for the Koto, not a ghost? Do they wait with hope or worry? Koto seeks, this one thinks, so hope then, yes?" He did a little jig, attempting a clever sidestep maneuver with his mismatched legs and fumbling it, going down with a flop and a cackle.
He sprawled for the moment, grinning and accepting his failure. "Ghost have done nothing but yell at the green one. They don't like hyenas, perhaps. Too close to the carrion, too familiar." He wrinkled his nose. He'd only had two instances where he'd dealt with ghosts - or what he thought were ghosts - and he had no desire of doing it again. "Singing to them was not attempted, maybe on the next time.
As fascinating as this meeting had been, the sun was coming up well and truly now, the hints of color seeping into the world. Nimhglas' nighttime energy was sapping; he needed to find a nice place to hole up and sleep the day away. Yawning as he got to his feet, he grinned toothily at the lion. "If this one sees your ghosts he will not tell them your direction. Farewell for now pink one, the night fades and so do I." With that, he paced off into the brush to look for a comfortable little nook to dream in.
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