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 Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 4:29 pm
Korou sat down where he was happily, his tail wagging back and forth, overly happy that he'd finally met someone that was like him. Finally met someone that he could care about. Yes, Chopi was who the juvenile black and orange spotted cheetah was thinking about as he rubbed at his right eye in a vain attempt to make it work again though it fought against him so.
The golden cheetah was all he'd thought about for a while now, though he wasn't quite sure why. Surely he thought of others the same way, only no, not the same.
This was all just too strange indeed. A sigh floated from his dark muzzle and he flopped down on his side lightly.
ninja
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Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 4:54 pm
A streak of deep crimson cut across the grass like flowing blood from the distance. Mashaka was trotting happily across the grasslands, almost with a dancing sort of gate, humming to himself. What he was humming was a little anthem of triumph, for he'd just satiated himself on a spectacular kill, and he couldn't be more pleased with himself. "Who's the man?" he muttered to himself under his breath. "I'm the man." He desperately wished there could've been some girls there so he could've shown off his strength and hunting prowess, but you can't win every battle, can you?
As Shaka reached the crest of a low-rising hill, he spied a dark shape across the distance. It was too small to be a pretty lady, and that was a disappointment. However, it could be a prey animal, and he could have some fun giving it a good scare. He crept slowly, carefully, through the grass, growing ever closer to his target, when finally he got close enough to notice...
Crap, it was a kid. Mashaka hissed loudly through his teeth at his grave mistake and then, realizing that he was making way too much noise, bit his lip. If there was one thing that made Mashaka truly uncomfortable, it was kids; he just didn't know what to do with them. Cautiously, Shaka attempted to back away without being noticed.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:53 pm
At the sound of the hiss Korou popped up from the ground like a prarie dog, his hackles all raising as he snarled at the creature from behind the long grasses to his right. Thanks to slowly going blind he was more than capable of recognizing where a sound came from and how dangerous it would be to him.
Lashing his juvenile tail in aggitation, the old juvenile stalked towards the grasses angrily, another snarl pulling from him. Because he was almost the size of an adolescent by now due to age and many moons worth of growth, Korou knew that he would be more than a match for anything that came towards him unless it was a lion. In fact he knew that even then he could protect himself because he was stronger than an average cheetah.
But as he got closer he saw a shock of red and frowned, sitting down again and glaring with a sigh at the larger cheetah adult in front of him.
"Who're you?"
ninja
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:18 pm
Mashaka couldn't help but be a little startled as the younger cheetah started hunting him down. His magenta eyes widened in alarm, and he staggered back clumsily. Usually Shaka prided himself on being a tough badboy, but this kid was seriously freaking him out and he couldn't help but be a little scared. "Woah. Woah. Woah. Okay, calm down little kid." Finally he tripped and fell back onto his rump. He was bracing himself to get bitten and have to kick the kid off when finally the kid stopped.
Mashaka frowned and glanced around himself. Now that the danger was past and he was calmer, he found himself quite glad that there were no girls around to have seen that shameful display; it's hard to maintain an image of tough masculinity when you're running from cubs. "Who am I?" the adult cheetah parroted. "My name's Mashaka, kid, and I think you oughta learn to have a little more respect for your elders. What were you trying to do there?" He tapped his paw impatiently, waiting for an answer.
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Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:11 am
"Like I would hurt you." Korou said with a tinge of disgust, the adult was scared of him? Sure, he was almost the size of an adolescent, but the smaller cheetah had horrible depth perception and was steadily going blind in his only remaining good eye. In short... Mashaka could have poked him and he'd have missed swinging in return.
But Mashaka didn't need to know that.
"You can call me Korou, as long as you don't go and try to annoy me once again." the smaller cheetah responded, glaring at the red cheetah out of his good blue eye. "As for the elder thing, where in the world would I have learned that? Having no elders for most of one's life tends to drain a body of the ability to respect those that hiss in the bushes and expect not to get snapped at. What did you think I was doing? It's called protection. The last thing I need is for some bizarre guy like you growling down my neck."
ninja
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Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:15 pm
Mashaka sighed a little. This was going to be difficult. Reaching a paw up to rub at his temples, the older cheetah grunted, "Yeah. Yeah. I knew you weren't gonna hurt me. I just... I just don't like kids." He shrugged. He didn't think anything of telling the kid this, he didn't care what the kid thought.
His eyes widened a little as Korou went on. Where did this kid get off talking to him like that? Mashaka found himself a little flabberghasted. "Hey, listen kiddo," Mashaka said forcefully, pointing at the kid. "I wasn't trying to annoy you. Frankly, I was trying to avoid you entirely once I found out you weren't something I could eat. And I only hissed because I was upset with myself for happening across you." He went a little limp, already exhausted from dealing with Korou. This was exactly why Mashaka hated kids; he just didn't know what to do with them. Then, somewhat grouchily, he added, "And don't you go calling me bizzare, two-tone," referring of course to Korou's alternately colored eyes. If he'd known Korou was going blind, though, he probably wouldn't have said anything.
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:27 pm
"I'm not a kid. I'm almost a teenager, so back off." The black and white hackles rose on Korou's back, only for him to lower them again with a sigh and a slight slump. It didn't matter to him if this adult liked him, it was another that was on his nearly adolescent mind.
Twisting his slowly dimming eyes at Mashaka, he leaned his head to the side. "If you're getting a headache from me then go. I'm already going blind and that gives me enough of a headache, now only to have to deal with an ungrown-grownup. Ugh. It's enough to make one's head hurt even more, you know?" Korou said gently to him. He didn't say it in a rude manner or in a way to offend, but he knew it would all the same. "Besides, you aren't the adult I feel like talking to right now. I only want to talk to her."
ninja
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Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:50 pm
Mashaka gritted this teeth a little but kept his mouth shut. The kid might grate on his nerves a little, but he was also tough. Mashaka was a little concerned about getting on this kid's bad side; he looked like he was going to grow up to be one tough customer and Shaka didn't want Korou to come back in, say, a year and break his neck. Mashaka may be as cocky as they come, but deep down he was a realist and he knew he was weak. He had only agility on his side, and if caught... there would be trouble. But then again, trouble was his middle name. Actually, his first.
But now suddenly most of the fight seemed to have drained out of the kid. Sure, he still talked rough, but he'd gone limp and Mashaka quirked an eyebrow looking down on him. He felt a little bad for the kid, actually, knowing he was going blind, even if the kid did keep talking dirty about him. Glancing about awkwardly, as though looking for an escape, Mashaka shuffled his paws in the dirt and muttered, "Blind, huh? That kinda sucks a lot. I'm sorry, kid." It wasn't a lie. He was sorry. Mashaka was many things, he was conceited and tactless... but he wasn't heartless.
Wait, what did he just say? Her? Well, now Mashaka was curious. "Her? Her who?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:01 am
Chewing on his tongue a little, Korou let a sigh escape from his muzzle and turned to glance at Mashaka guiltily. Okay, so he'd been rude and that wasn't cool, but the cheetah had had it coming. That wasn't the grown up approach to a battle but yeah.... he still had it coming.
"Look, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just, everything I'm going through and then this, it's just too much. Not to mention, I've had some bad experiences with things hissing at me in the bushes. Last time something did that it killed the only father I've ever known and blinded me in one eye." Korou explained, embarrased beyond words, "So, I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to piss you off."
Using one of his paws to rub his black and white striped ruff, Korou flushed red and looked down at the ground, dropping his paw again and leaving a mohawk of striped fur on the top of his head. "Her name's Chopi'. I've always thought of her differently... but I guess now I'm starting to realize how differently. I just... I just don't know how to tell her. You know?"
ninja
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:39 pm
Mashaka chewed anxiously on his lips. He was in way, way over his his head; he could tell because he'd been in over his head in so many different situations before. It was one thing when it was just open hostility, that was something he could deal with. But now the kid was getting all... awkward on him, and that made Mashaka feel awkward in return.
"Err..." Mashaka muttered, and hesitated because he really didn't know what to follow that up with. I mean, the kid's under stress, his dad's dead, and he's going blind. What are you supposed to say to that? How do you follow that up? Mashaka's only real problem at the moment was that he just couldn't get laid, and that's not something you talk about with a kid. Finally, Mashaka cleared his throat and grumbled, "Erm, I'm ah... really sorry 'bout that, kid. It's, ah, it's okay... I guess." It was the best he could do, really.
Just when Shaka thought the situation couldn't get any more awkward, it did. The kid started rattling on about his girl. Mashaka recognized the way Korou pined away wearily. That was love on his face, in his voice. Mashaka didn't know the first thing about love; love was something he just didn't do. Now lust, that was Mashaka's strong point. But love? He was pretty sure he'd never felt it. So no, Mashaka didn't know. "Ah, sure... I guess..." was his lame reply. That last remaining bit of goodness in his soul didn't want to admit that he'd never felt true love, not out loud.
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Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:16 am
Glancing over at Mashaka with his eyebrows curled in and a strange smile on his face, Korou shook his head. Of course this other cheetah didn't understand, who could? Was it really possible to understand the loss and the pain? After all, Korou had seen quite a few die and quite a bit of himself be washed away with each passing being.
However, now that he'd found what he wanted, what he was looking for... he didn't feel the pain as harshly any longer.
"If you don't know then you don't have to answer. I understand not everyone knows what it feels like, a lot of males just dont' care about those things." Korou responded after a long moment.
ninja
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Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:25 am
The look Mashaka got made him extremely uncomfortable. He was being judged. He hated being judged. In the back of his mind, he paranoidly associated judgings with executions. However, he knew he was being rediculous and shook his head to shake the thoughts free. He needed to think more clearly.
He wrinkled his nose a bit at Korou's assessment of him. On some level, he was a little offended. He cared. He was sure that he cared. He just had no idea what to say to the kid. In some ways, he sympathized with him, and recalled some long lost pain whose cause he could not quite place, but did not try very hard to place either. If something had hurt him in the past, he didn't want to know about it.
"Hey, I care!" Mashaka insisted. "But what do you honestly want me to say!? I mean... I don't even know you. And just because I might not know how it feels doesn't mean I don't care..."
Here Mashaka trailed off and bit his lip. Did he just admit that he didn't know how it felt to love? Did he? He liked to think that he hadn't, because if he had... well... he didn't even know.
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Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:52 pm
"You don't have to say anything. You don't have to understand. You don't even have to care to be honest with you. It might be true that this is the first time we've met and that you obviously don't like kids or at least not most of us, but I do understand that it's akward to see someone in this state." Korou said smoothly to the older cheetah as he stood on his long legs. "So don't worry about it. I woulda been a little bit more inclined to let you go or at least to stop babbling if I weren't confused, but I am."
The dark cheetah turned and sat down as he licked one of his legs and looked up at the sky faintly. He missed Chopi a lot, but he still wasn't sure what to say to her.
"You can go if you want. This'll probably annoy you anyway."
ninja
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Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:12 pm
Well, the kid sure had him figured right out, didn't he? This bothered Mashaka, bothered him to a great extent. Mashaka wore his personality like a shield to mask the truth underneath, but it just wasn't working on Korou. The older cheetah felt strangely invaded, almost violated. He wasn't used to others seeing him for him and it made him feel ugly, and on the surface angry. He wrinkled his nose looking down on the kid and snorted. "Fine then," he grunted. "I won't care. Whatever you want, kid."
He stood sharply and held himself as high as he could--no slinking, no strutting. He was in full defense mode. When Korou gave him the opening to leave, Mashaka couldn't have been glader. He permitted a slight smirk as he took his leave of the younger male. "Right, I'm out," Mashaka announced, starting to back off. "You have a good life kid, or whatever..." He trailed off here, out of things to say and out of caring. For a moment, slightly distracted by a brief flash of memory, he stared off into space. He let it go and then, with head still held high, he turned tail and stalked rigidly back from whence he'd came, hoping he could still save face.
((Took me long enough, eh?))
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