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 Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:33 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:06 pm
 Firestorm had been going purely on hate and obsession for the last three days since he had met with Taraxippus and signed his daughter away to his herd. He wouldn't sleep... he couldn't sleep. His body wouldn't let him. Every time he heard a twig snap, every time something moved through the underbrush, he jumped. Maybe it was Taraxippus or one of his herd. Maybe they were ready for the assault.
His eyes were bloodshot, and there were heavy bags under them as he paced further away from his herdgrounds. The moment was finally arriving, though. As soon as Taraxippus did the surveilance he needed and gathered his forces... they would launch such an assault on the unsuspecting soquili. He could already visualize Balrog's expression as he watched the herd he had cultivated for years like some obsessive gardener wrested away from him. He'd been perched on that mountain for years, closed his borders. Time had chewed at him; surely he had gotten complacent...
He shook his head again, snorting as he wore a rut in the soft earth as he paced around the trees.
His wings itched. And his shoulder wouldn't stop ticking. What was taking so long? He had been waiting for this since the day he had been kicked out of the herdgrounds.
Soon... soon he would burn away everything that Balrog and Stormwild ever cared about. And he would take back HIS territory.
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:19 am
Kumiho watched the pacing stallion from her vantage in the tree-branches. She was a swell climber, and she had to admit she liked the power that came with being up high; watching over the others. She had been keeping tabs on Firestorm since their first meeting; using her keen sense of smell and excellent tracking stills to pulse-check his plans.
She had some plans of her own she had been brewing. She felt a kind of odd kinship with Firestorm. Unlike most of her victims, which were gullible, squishy, brainless little twits; Firestorm was different. He was intelligent - maybe not as intelligent as he thought himself to be - but he was no dimwit. He also had that driven, determined fire in his belly that only another Soquili who truly hated something could understand. Perhaps in another life, they would have been great friends.
But in this life, Kumiho was a deviously evil creature...and no matter how close to empathy she got for his jilted stallion, it only exposed to her his weaknesses. He wouldn't usually be the kind of Soquili to so easily fall for some skin walker's ruse. But hatred, as Kumiho had recently learned the hard way, can blind you to reason. It makes you determined, but it makes you stupid.
She hopped down from her tree after she felt ready to take this relationship to the next level. "You again!" she said, putting on her best adorable-fox-in-distress face.
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:51 am
Firestorm jumped, rounding quickly on the new arrival on the scene. His nerves were coiled like springs. But that little plaintive, feminine voice, and the flash of silver greeted him rather than the tall, smoky stallion.
His face pinched into a sour expression as his ears plastered back and he looked over the fox with a snort.
"You again." He echoed, although the tone was mirrored back with a note of irritation. "Last time you were slinking around here you had your tail mangled. I'm surprised you're back."
Firestorm barely made eye contact with the fox, most of his thoughts were wrapped up in the coming war. However, when he did, it was easy to tell that obsession and hatred had taken full control of Firestorm and seemed to be all that was driving the sleep-deprived stallion.
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:41 am
Kumiho's expression twitched in anger at his dismissive response. But she kept her feelings in check; if was going to pull this off she couldn't blow it by letting her emotions get the better of her. Patience was her greatest virtue. If you could even call it that...
"I don't give up so easily," she said, puffing out her chest. "This is my home and I"m not going to be ran off by one altercation that didn't go my way." She looked up at him and tilted her head. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply you're weak just because you gave up... that was rude of me."
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 2:18 pm
Suddenly, the fox had Firestorm's FULL attention.
"I DIDN'T GIVE UP!" He turned, snapping his blunt teeth in her direction. But she had obviously hit a nerve. That anger and hatred that had been building up pressure in the stallion bubbled to the surface for a moment - like a gasket letting off steam.
He drew his head back, looking down, down his long nose at the diminutive fox, looming over her and making it silently obvious how much larger he was. "As a matter of fact.." he continued, reining back in his temper marginally, "I followed your advise. The attack is pending."
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:48 am
Kumiho felt a tingle of excitement run down her back and set her fur on end. An attack on the Thunderbird? Could he really pull it off? "It is?" she asked, genuinely interested. She had her doubts this stallion could do any deal damage...if herself and Cerberus had failed, he had to be ready for an extremely hard uphill batter. "That's good news for you! A little bit of release! What's the plan?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:35 am
Firestorm eyed her warily. Granted, she had suggested speaking with the Shadow herd for help, and he HAD healed her tail... but what if she tipped off the Thunderbird herd... Stormwild DID have a fox familiar... maybe there were connections.
"Why so keen to know details? You aren't a little spy for Balrog or Storm, are you?" He asked, warily.
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:21 pm
Kumiho had to struggle to seem more offended then angry. "Oh course not!" she exclaimed, putting her paw to her chest. "I would never spy! Especially not for those pompous brutes up there. They wouldn't help me when I was injured!" she lied, looking back to her tail. "I just want to know to see if I can be of some help to you - you saved me, I'm in debt!" she pleaded with him. "I'm just a small fox, and I can't help you in battle, but perhaps...some other way?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:55 pm
"Hmmm..." He said consideringly for a moment. Firestorm was more than a little paranoid, and his temper was barely being held in check at the moment, but logic prodded at his mind. SHe had everything to owe him, and no reason to betray him. She had suggested the anju herd to begin with.
"I suppose." He finally conceded, not making eye contact. "The bargain has been made. The shadow herd will be attacking with me. I despite depending on the wingless, but their herd leader has strong allies. Soon. They will not know what hit them."
He looked back at her with a dubious frown. "You have helped already. You reminded me of their herd."
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:38 am
"You still seem discontent," she observed. She took a few steps closer, rubbing her silky coat over the fur of his front legs, like a cat. "You should be more excited, but instead you seem like you're still festering in anger, not anticipation. Is this what you really want?"
She paused, looking up at him with her deep, nearly hypnotizing golden eyes. "I mean, I know you want revenge on the Thunderbird herd, but... in the end would you be happy with that? What will that change, in you?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 8:18 am
"I'm impatient," Firestorm said with a growl. "It has been days since the arrangement. What is taking him so long?" But it was more than just that on Firestorm's mind. Yes, he was eager for the attack, but he was worried at the same time - what if it wasn't successful? What if it was all for nought? He was angry at himself for agreeing so quickly to let Firestarter go with Taraxippus without even speaking to her or his mate before agreeing. And he was angry at himself that he wasn't MORE angry about it. Shinoma certainly was.
But even deeper than that... Firestorm shook his head, "I wish I could strip the wind from my blood," He said darkly, "If I could, I would cast off all ties of blood that I share with ..." He couldn't even call him his father, "with Balrog. Be like my mate - Shinoma - a Kalona. A demon. To come back and visit that upon him."
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:40 am
YES! yesyesyes... Now they were getting somewhere, Kumiho thought to herself. "A Kalona?" she asked, stepping back to look at him. Her mind was already racing, flipping through her catalog of lore and ideas; she was a quick-witted mare and indeed, quite a learned one. Skinwalkers are often pushed off as being dumb and brutish; but to the contrary many of them are incredibly intelligent; they had to be to survive.
She had to think fast, but she saw a golden opportunity here. Like many skinwalkers, Kumiho hated those demonic posers. Sure, the purest of Kalona were perhaps will a force to be reckoned with, but most Kalona were neutered, weak shadows of their once former selves: why the Raven Mocker himself hasn't smite them all by now was a mystery to her.
"I did not know your mate was Kalona," she said, trying to sound like she cared when indeed she was doing little more than buy time as an idea was incubating in her brain. What lore did she know of the Raven Mocker?
"Your parents did not approve, I take it? Is that part of the reason they felt so inclined to replace you like a aggressive dog? I don't think I could stand to be associated with their type, either."
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:06 pm
Firestorm rolled his eyes. "No, no they did not. And yes. They were frightened. Pitiful fools that saw her and quaked. They were afriad of her - afraid of her strength. But it is not she who is visiting their hatred back on them, but I." His ears still lay back against his head.
"Stormwild. She was the one who told the stories of the demons. She is NOT my dam, and I believe she was looking for a reason to get rid of me. But Balrog is just as bad."
He flexed his feathered wings, looking at them with a glance of distaste. "They were right. Those of us with wings are superior. But the kalona... I think they feared their betters. Too ashamed to admit that they were not the true kings of the lands."
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:49 pm
Kumiho grew quiet, looking back and forth as she was going to say something scandalous. "Have you tried it?" she asked, her voice lowering into a hushed whisper, beckoning Firestorm to lean in closer. "The ritual? I've always wondered if what they say is true..."
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