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 Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:02 am
"Perhaps." Taraxippus responded, not at all convinced that meeting another would certainly be his death. But while his uniqueness gave him the advantage in his interactions with others, it was a double edged sword. Taraxippus had not exactly experimented with how resilient he was to damage, nor did he particularly care to. He knew he was physically rather weak - he could never exert much force behind his blows, although his horn was certainly sharp enough to generally make it unnecessary. And he had little body weight behind his hooves, although it was enough to pin a rabbit, even when he was a foal - although that was not saying much. But his sister, who was much shorter than he in stature, could always easily bowl him over.
But... resisting harm? Certainly, he could slip among the trees as natural as the shadow he resembled. He never noticed the clawing branches or thorn bushes when he was focused on a hunt. Could his weakness be the payment for resilience? Perhaps. But for now, Taraxippus was much more comfortable using his words and air of confidence as a shield - those were armors that had been tested, that could be relied upon.
At Izusa's invitation, however, the light in the dark stallion's eyes flashed. Emotions were rarely a concern for the stallion, but it sent a tangible - if brief - rush of excitement through him at the thought of hunting with another - who actually enjoyed the game as much as he. His sister was a pain, spoiling it or distracting the prey. And Megaera was still much too young. Besides, Taraxippus did seek companionship... worthy soquili to join with him for this greater purpose that loomed before him... even if the precise goal was vague to him. Taraxippus needed to earn Izusa's trust, and beyond that, impress her, if he wanted to be able to consider her an ally in the future. For true power needed the strength to back it up.
"It would be a pleasure." He responded with a chilling grin. "What game shall we pursue? Deer? Boar? Or did you have something else in mind?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 6:40 am
'Definately, but let us not argue on that point. We could illustrate it now if you like with my own hooves, tail and teeth.' Izusa flashed a toothy grin at Taraxippus.
'But you have enticed me enough to stay my hooves, and as I said, I would hunt with you.' Izusa let her tail tendrils coil around one of her rear legs.
'What would you like to hunt, I shall let you choose.' her reasoning behind that was because of his physical appearance. She was unsure as to what exactly he could cope with, and it would neatly illustrate what weaknesses this outspoken and smoky stallion had. Knowledge was power and all that..
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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 2:24 pm
"Let us save the aggression for the prey." Taraxippus responded calmly. As blithley as he tried to come across, certainly the last thing he wanted to do was incite her to attack. That would certainly defeat the whole point. Plus, Taraxippus really wasn't sure what would happen.
"And for the prey.... hrmm...." He saw her appraising look. Deer were perhaps the largest of the prey species, but nowhere half as mean as boar. Besides, deer was far more food than even two could eat before it would spoil.
"I say we make a sport of boar. The woods have been thick with them rooting for food as the skies have been getting colder."
His tail swished as he strolled towards a thick copse of trees. As the shadows were cast over him, it became evident just how well the stallion was built for stealth. Dark as smoke and almost as transparent, it became difficult to distinguish where the shadows ended and th stallion began.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:54 am
'I'm sure I can do that,' Izusa replied, in what was for her a very relaxed manner. She had a feeling that he didn't know what the outcome of a fight between them would be; she was confident in her skills and viciousness but didn't want to send the first Soquili that she had felt a connection with running away with tail between legs.
'As you wish..'
Boar meat had an earthier tang to it then deer. Deer were flighty and much swifter than boar; she had no great wish for a weaving chase on ground that was slippy, and hunting in flight was tricky at the best of times.
The shade of the trees seemed to swallow Taraxippus, and she had to keep her gaze trained on him to see where he was.
For a while she could only smell the stallion, and damp from rotting, fallen leaves. She stayed in his trail, moving as silently as she could, using him almost as cover, for he resembled a concentration of dark, drifting ground fog. If there were any boar to be found, he would sight it first.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:15 pm
Taraxippus gladly dropped the subject of direct conflict, instead turning his focus on the hunt at hand. He drew in the scents around him, tasting the air and let his sensitive nostrils decipher the scents. There was him and Izusa of course... the smell of blood from the rabbits.... other rabbits... old, delicate smells of deer that had passed here the night before.... and there... the musky, earthy scent of boar.
Taraxippus moved more slowly at first, gauging the kalona's competence in navigating thick woods. Her wings and lashing cords on her tail did not seem well suited to the thick underbrush. And the metallic sheen of her coat may catch the light and startle prey... or perhaps pick up the colors of the surrounding woods and help her blend in even more. It would be interesting to see.
Taraxippus stayed to the shadows, flitting between dark patches as he closed in on the source of the thick scent. His tail lashed in his anxiety, the wet crimson patch on the tip of his tail a subtle flag for the mare that followed behind him.
He barely left a trace of his passing, even in the moist earth, and his footsteps were silent.
Finally, after about fifteen or twenty minutes of this tracking, Taraxippus stopped with a flick of his tail, and a nod towards a slightly moving bush ahead. There was a grunting and shuffling, and the thick smell of wild boar.
Now. For the delicious part.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:13 am
Izusa's nostril's flared; the rank smell of boar was unmistakable, hanging heavy on the air about them. They may taste well, but they stink to high heaven.. she mused as she moved to a standstill, her wings held tightly against her flanks so that they didn't snare any passing branches.
She heard the snorting noises as Taraxippus motioned to the trembling foliage of the bush, her nose wrinkling a little at her distaste for the animal's habits. She listened with pricked ear, muscles tensed and taut in case it happened to blunder out towards them. Boar had a heft behind them, and mistakes could lead to lamed legs.
She brushed against the side of the stallion to gain his attention and mouthed a query to him;
'Surround and flush out?' she barely spoke the words so as not to alert the boar to their presence.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:24 am
The unwitting boar. Taraxippus's tail lashed in anticipation. It didn't even know that they were there - its death was waiting for him in the form of two hungry soquili.
Taraxippus nodded almost imperceptibly to Izusa as he glided to the right side of the brush, waiting for her to take the position his opposite.
He took a breath, tasting the air in his mouth. It was rank, it was foul, but it was prey. He stood in delicious anticipation of what was about to happen. He was about to bring a change in this animal's life. He was about to end it. He was Death to this poor creature. And beyond that, he had an audience - a very important audience.
It was vital that he not show any weakness today. It was vital that he take the first move. With another nod to the mare, he sprung.
Dashing towards the brush with all silence and pretense thrown to the winds, Taraxippus desceneded on the rooting boar like all of Hell's fury. He struck towards it with his hooves, ready to block his direction as an egress point if the boar decided to run.
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:45 pm
As the trap was set Izusa felt the usual electric surge, anticipation of the fear and the chaos, the blood and the kill. She kept hold of her excitement however, a hasty move would only lead to a failed hunt, and disappointment for the both of them.
The smell of the boar became the very air as she slid into position, her tail stilled, wings folded as tight as she could hold them without causing herself pain.
Attack of the smoke.. the sneering little thought flashed across Izusa's mind in the moment that Taraxippus launched himself at the snuffling creature between them. Naturally the boar attempted to dodge the first attack, and Izusa lashed out with her own hooves, kicking the cloven tips at its exposed rear.
She moved swiftly out of the way as the boar kicked out itself, turning in a quick action that brought her tail tendrils in reach of one of its legs, the spikes on them lashing one leg and flicking at the boars underbelly where leg met body. If she could trip it, lasso it with her tail and they both caught it off balance it would fall and expose its throat..
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:38 pm
Time seemed to slow as the two jaws of the trap snapped around the boar - silver and shadow. When the hunts got down to this point, the capture and kill of the prey - it happened so quickly. Hours could be spent tracking or selecting a prey that would cumulate in just a few quick seconds. And every move could mean the difference between life and death for the target.
Taraxippus knew that he needed to take a very active role in this hunt, Izusa had already proved herself more than competant just from the first moments of the attack - he had never imagined just how useful the tendrils of her tail could be - snagging and snaring the creature.
The boar had not been expecting this attack. When the first attack came from the dark stallion, he had managed to avoid it, squealing in surprise and anger. When the second predator emerged on the scene, it did not have the clarity of thought to avoid a second attack. It tripped over the tendrils and it began to go to its knees.
At this opening, Taraxippus - with many more wits about him than the pig - struck again - driving his horn to the now exposed throat.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:08 pm
Izusa grinned in delight as her tail did the job she had hoped it would, her little needle fangs flashing in the gloom for a moment. She sliced again at its hindquarters as it fell; she didnt want the boar to recover enough to get up now that they had downed it. She tugged her tail hard away before the boar crushed it, the spikes tearing at the pig-flesh again as they slipped away.
She moved above the boar as Taraxippus went to slice into its throat, slamming her legs hard into it, forcing it downwards with her body weight. She gripped into the hairy hide of the struggling creature with wing and hoof, pressing into its side so that it would slowly smother under her weight, forcing it downwards until the stallion had delivered a killing strike.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:31 pm
The thrill of the hunt. Perhaps not quite as exquisite as holding the creature at his mercy, but with a creature as formidable and stalwart as a boar, discretion and a hasty killing stroke was preferable. Besides, the true quarry in this hunt was not the boar.
Besides, the killing blow... it was certainly wonderful in its own right. The moment of pressure before his needle-sharp horn punctured the thoat. The sudden smell of hot, coppery blood that spilled... and then - the death - squeal that split the air before trailing into a gurgle. That was him. That was them. They ended the creature's life.
Taraxippus left his horn in the boar for longer than was necessary before roughly cutting his head to the side, creating a thick red gash across the entirety of the boar's neck.
With a dark whicker, Taraxippus slowly lifted his head, horn dripping crimson. "He smells much better dead than he did alive.." He flashed a fangy grin at Izusa.
"Ladies first...." He gestured to the corpse - inviting her to take the first choice of meat.
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Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:48 am
Izusa let out a long exhalation of breath as boar let out its own last one. Such peace and pleasure covered her as the blood hit the air, the smell covering all as her senses were filled with it. Her eyes had slid closed for a moment, her head weaving gently and she opened them to look upon Taraxippus, his horn dripping with gore.
She moved forwards with a faint smile, her wings folded away once more after having them open for balance when she had been pressing down on the boar and she tilted her neck gracefully, reaching and catching a drop that hung from the stallions horn.
'He does..' she sighed, a little shiver of anticipation running along her spine. She flashed Taraxippus a look at his display of manners and went to it, her own muzzle becoming swiftly covered in blood as she tore into the boars flank, her tail stilled for once as she ate her fill. Once done, she stepped back, her tongue cleaning her mouth before she attended to anywhere else on her pelt that had gotten splashed in blood.
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Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:06 pm
Taraxippus smiled, his tail swishing as Izusa leaned towards him, adeptly catching the droplet of blood on her tongue. It was... sensuous. Things couldn't have been going better.
He watched her dig into the meal. It was encouraging - he had never seen a mare feed on flesh with such gusto before. He had had at best a disparaging opinion of most mares before - his sister really being the only other example, and she was a sopping baby. She preferred to eat clover than succulent flesh.
There was certainly no reservations in Izusa. And Taraxippus was quite pleased with what he saw. After waiting for her to take her fill, Tara dug in himself to the sweet underbelly meat, ripping pieces free before swallowing them. There was no reservations with him either. His eyes kept darting up, however, watching with a flash in his eyes as she cleaned the blood from her glistening fur.
When he finally had his fill, he lifted his head, he licked his chops and then wiped at them with the already drippin crimson leonine tail.
"You are quite the huntress." He whispered lowly. It certainly was a change from hunting with the bumbling Arcana. She got in his way - often intentionally. And his father preferred to hunt alone.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:51 pm
It was odd. Very odd. Almost as though the hunt and the blood had intoxicated her. She would have to back away or she could find herself reliving what had happened the time before, which had led her to being in a family way. That was how it started after all; mutual pleasures...although...she shook her head, getting a latch on her feelings and shaking away the faint worry that had reared its head for the second time since meeting him.
She watched the stallion eating with a look of amusement. For how wispy he looked, he certainly had an appetite. This time - if in fact she would even succumb to those baser appetites - it would be markedly different. For one thing she was more lucid, experienced and sure of herself. How different it would be if she were the seducer!
'Yes.' she replied, quickly, proudly. She flicked a wing out, canting her head to one side as if examining it for some flaw.
'You do not have anyone that you can hunt with then?' the wing was folded again.
'I would have thought someone would have taught you at least the rudimentaries of hunting?'
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:05 pm
Even after having his fill from the carcass, Taraxippus was in no hurry to leave. Like Izusa, the heady rush of the chase, the power over the victim, and his mouth and belly full of the sinful taste left him feeling warm and pleased. They had shared this hunt together, and Tara was elated at their success - and more than that - he could see the look of interest in her eyes that he had won.
He was hesitant for a moment to reveal such mortal actions as being instructed. Did it not take away from the mystique that he had projected? But a cagey answer might very well just irritate the mare and give her cause to leave now that her belly was full as well. "Yes. I was taught by one skilled at the art. However even during instructions, he left most of it to me to do on my own and learn through practice. He .... prefers to hunt alone."
Taraxippus drifted closer to Izusa almost imperceptibly. "And what of you, Izusa? Have you had others to share your hunts with you before? Or have you only known the company of other weak-minded soquili who graze on grasses and other such unpalatable foods?"
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