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 Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:12 pm
His call reached her ears quite easily, and though she slowed down her pace, the female teetered on the decision of whether to go back or not. She figured it would be a dramatic ending, and then she would meet somebody else and she would be fine and she could start again with them. Meeting others and interacting was a highly thought-out and observed process. She'd learned it straight from her sister. Well, spying on her anyway. And if the steps weren't right the magic didn't work. People didn't like her like they should.
And part of the process did not involve leaving or freaking out, if only internally. There was just something wrong with her today. It's the dirt. All the dirt and the snow and the mud and the cold. I bet it's because it'll rain. Momma said I was getting some weird horm....hormo....feelings thing.
Looking down at her mussed and muddy fur, tiny clumps of snow gathered on her legs like bread on a chicken, Arina realized that she was stopped. Just....standing there wavering in the snow, too wrapped up in her stupid head troubles to make a decent mistake. Why did everything she do have to end up half-cooked? She couldn't even escape correctly! But his innocent prospect of fun did make her mouth twitch upwards from it's angsty, stern expression. Just a bit. And she doubted she'd ever admit it. Turning her head to look back at the male, so small and dark against the great canvas of snow, she sighed. "Alright, I guess so. Besides, not-queens are pretty wonderful at playing. Of course, it depends of what we're playing. Cos some stuff I might not wanna play." Her nose twitched in an indifferent sniff.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:42 pm
Well, an indifferent sniff was better than an outright "no"! The male wagged his tail eagerly, dark eyes lit up with his smile. "Well I hope so! But first I have to know what the not-queen doesn't want to do. Liiiiike . . .' Adam paused in thought. 'Well, does the not-queen want to play a hunting game? Because then I could be like her knight and help her find the mean old beastie that you scared away. I bet it's coming with reinforcements!' Contrary to his usual pacifistic behavior, Adam found himself imbued with a sudden need to be . . . well, manly. Not that he wanted to outright hurt the thing if they found it, but boy woudl he feel good knowing he had helped a damsel in distress - and mind you, he knew there was some sort of distress going on with her, even if he didn't know what it was yet beyond involving a Shagufta.
'Or, oooor you could help me bark at the sky so that it doesn't cry,' Adam offered as a second option, sitting down to demonstrate. 'You tilt your head back like this, and you take a deep breath, and you ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!'
Sure, it was just him projecting a very adult-like howl that wasn't even really coming from his throat, but hey, he didn't care. What Adam did care about was that within seconds the sky roared back. The sound of thunder replied in a disant but forboding rumble that startled him to his paws again, the clouds starting to bunch up above them and grow grayer. The look of shock on his face was rather comical.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:55 pm
By the time that she had reached him, lured in like a crow to bright copper or a bug to a lamp, he had already started making plans and charmed a smile to her face. Her head tilted she listened to him Arina saw a gaggle of dark monsters coming to shape in the back of her mind. Adam, well as a knight he had obviously grown and filled into the biggest, strongest male [looking much in stature like her own father] she had known. And she herself? Why, she was right there with him. Brighter and smarter and prettier, but herself all the same. Pointing out the ugly beasts and now sure of her 'abilities'. The sides of her mouth twitched at the whimsical idea.
The teen's ears flickered forwards intently as he began howling, pink eyes widening slightly in surprise at the act. But the thunder that came in response was too priceless, accompanied by his expression. She couldn't help burst out laughing, a clear, loud sound that just brought waves of good energy with it. If he had been peeking into her head at the time he'd have seen almost like a snapshot of his flabbergasted face.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:33 pm
Is that you, God? Because if so, YOU'RE SCARED ME. REALLY. REALLY BADLY. DON'T DO THAT. Like thinking hard at the sky ever did good, right? But God was supposed to answer prayers, Momma said, so hopefully he caught those loud internalized shouts sent through those cloudy heavens. Maybe next time he wouldn't scare the runt half to death! He'd already done that as a pup, please-kay-thanks; no more near-death exeriences so soon! Adam's fur was puffed out from being initially frightened, and he took measures to fluff it back down, expecting some sort of snide remark from the not-queen.
Remarkably, all he heard was laughter!
Mind you, his first impulse was to scowl and re-puff his chest to procure what manliness he had lost with that scardey-cat act, and he did so, turning to the femme to set her straight. Only . . . only, now she looked genuinely happy, and it was the right feeling of laughter - the kind was that was with and not at him. Or maybe it was a nicer version of the at him? Adam did indeed catch the brief image of his expression mid-scaring, and the scowl melted away as he too laughed. The sound his mind attempted to imitate was basically a modulated version of Arina's, a forcibly male deep tone that was off from his borrowed voice's normal one - but then, Adam hadn't had much practice with laughter. He almost forgot to move his mouth along with the words even as he regained breath.
'I kinda . . . I kinda wasn't expecting it to growl back. Fudge, and now it'll really rain and the snow'll melt!' he lamented with drooped ears and a sigh. "Guess I wasn't scary enough . . . Sorry. I said we'd play, and now it's gonna rain on our parade - literally!'
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:47 pm
As ridiculous his display, Arina padded closer to him and sat down, ears pricked as she looked up at the sky. Why? She wasn't quite sure, but an encore performance would not be unwanted. Though her giggles had died down leaving her a little breathless.
Her head ticked over to Adam and Arina made a scrunched face in response to his expression. She herself wasn't that heartbroken over the loss of a game -she could play at home if she wanted, but she usually didn't because she was too 'old' for games there- yet her companion seemed genuinely sad. Well, he said he hadn't gotten out much. "Maybe it won't." Arina replied bluntly, hoping to cheer him up a bit. She was neither a seer or weather expert really, but sometimes when things looked like they were going to happen, they didn't. It wasn't a sure thing, but it was one of life's wonders she just let be.
"I mean, my dadd-father says that snow is just rain. But cold. He knows because he's had snow before. But it's just rain that you can see. Well, you can see rain so that's sort of a stupid thing but rain doesn't stick to the ground, it just sort of puddles. And don't make that face, it's depressing. It might not even happen. Because if it's cold then it'll just "cry" snow, right?" Arina blinked as she looked towards the male, head tilted just slightly as she waited for a response. Sometimes it took a moment for them to do it. She knew that. What she perceived as awe at how smart and cool Shagufta was in reality seemed to be considering whether something was intentionally offensive and processing information.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:00 pm
'Maybe . . .' But there wasn't one patch of blue in the sky now, all dominated by the bladness of roiling clouds. Low thunder rumbled again, not as loud or surprising as the first one but just was threatening, and for a moment adam could've sworn he heard . . . 'No, it'll rain. I'm sure of it,' Adam replied after several seconds, innately feeling the rain already hitting his pelt, hearing already the sound of distant rain - it was a queer feeling to experience, imagining being wet and actually being dry and fine. He shivered nonetheless, ripping himself from the minor vision and back into the middle of snow.
At her request, he put away the crestfallen face and put it with what he hoped was a dependably smart one - if expressions could be smart. 'Yeah, definitely rain'll come down in a few minutes. Guess the game's gonna be not getting hit by rain! So, we need to find shelter, cause it's cold enough in the snow without getting even more wet, and I don't think we wanna freeze to death. Didja see a cave while you were escaping that mob, unnamed not-queen?' he asked. 'Or some sorta den we can borrow till it passes?'
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:22 pm
Even with his prediction, the female was quite skeptical. He could just decide whether or not it would rain? That was what it seemed to her, and she was undoubtedly not ready to leave a perfectly good spot in the fresh snow to put proof to his curiousity. How do you know? She hadn't experienced his vision, and glances to the sky just meant to her it was getting dark and cloudy. Characteristic of rain, yes. But she would've much rather preferred if she had said it was going to rain if it was going to.
Still, as he shivered Arina did too if only as a mirrored response. His prospect of freezing to death was not a happy one, and bringing attention back to her feet they seemed very close. Uncomfortable, wet and cold to make least of the situation. But out in the snow when coupled with rain it could be a very real fear, the teen blinked in realization. Well then you better find somewhere to wait it out... Her mind growled back in response to her foolish epiphany.
"I...." For a moment, her mind was disgustingly blank as she tried to go back through her journey. Her home had a den, but that was however far away! And even if she did go back, what would he do? The den was scarcely big enough for the growing teens and their parents, much less another. "Yes. I mean, I think so. I'm pretty sure. It was that way, but we have to go quick, right? How far is it away?" Arina pointed her nose back in the direction she had come, glad for the telltale ploughed snow tale. Though she did happen to be wearing most of it on her chest. "Follow me." With that she set off, even before she left the field her head sweeping from side to side like a pendulum.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:29 pm
Go quick, yup, really quick. Rain fell down fast, especially if it really was snow only different - he figured heavier things fell down faster, right? Made sense anyway. So yes, quick was the correct response, and he was glad that she wasn't asking too many questions, not noting that his prediction and absolute certainty in it was rather suspicious; he just wanted to get the heck out of there before he got wet and colder! Yet even when Adam made to try and answer, she ran off without waiting for his answer and, taking a deep breath, he followed after her lithe form, glad that her colored stripes were easily accessible to his half-vision. Still, he stumbled at times.
'It'll be here in . . . four minutes,' Adam guesstimated. "So I hope where you're leading us is close by, not-queen! If I freeze to death, you'll be sorry!' Maybe she'd bring him to her family? That'd be an interesting sight to see . . .
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:55 pm
Only a few times she had heard him behind her, a shuffle on the packed snow as he stumbled. With only a quick glance back Arina adjusted her speed. Oh, right. She was faster than him. That had been established quite early on in their meeting. But without anyone as a real running partner it was easy to forget sometimes. Four minutes. That didn't seem much time at all, the faint grasp she had on it. She and her family lived by sun-up and sun-down. Generally things finished and started as they did. Arina hardly questioned them. Food was killed and brought when it was killed and dragged back. When you were tired you lay down and slept, thirsty you found yourself a water source.
But that didn't mean he was completely stupid to the contemporary thinking. She knew it like a normal person knew a second language. Without a real explanation, just somewhat. But she'd trained her eyes on the landscape, brows furrowing anxiously as she looked around. Everything was backwards from when she had first rushed by, and even then there hadn't been much of a sight-seeing tour.
Without explanation to her companion Arina veered off her own beaten track over to a small, sparsely tree-covered hill. Was this it? The virgin, unmarked snow crunched loudly under her freezing paws but she paid no mind to the sound, but set about scratching into the side of the snow-covered hill.
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Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:34 am
Aaaaaack, the snow felt even colder! Maybe it was because they were moving quickly? but when he walked a lot, he tended to get hotter, not colder. The cloudy sky messed so many things up, it wasn't fair! He preoccupied himself wiht warmer thoughts, like finding a shelter for himself and the girl, which hopefully wouldn't be too small or else they'd have to press against each other embarassingly. Although that'd be warm too, among other things . . . Then he stumbled again and almost fell over, breaking the image quickly.
'Two minutes. We almost there yet?' Adam called, shaking his head a little to clear his mind. The land was beginning to incline again, so he assumed it was a hill. Dark figures sprouted ahead as trees, far apart and with little leaves to protect them; most were still naked from the winter, and very few pines were to be seen. Where was she taking him?
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:27 am
Maybe... The thought had a lasting pang of anxiety in her mind, like the fading echo of a gong. In truth, Arina had only known where to go out of memory. She'd been past before with her father, she was almost certain. But that was almost a world ago it seemed, where snow didn't blanket and muffle the ground and tree's boughs weren't bare.
"I'll find it. I know exactly where it is. I'm just good at finding things." The teen called over her shoulder, still scratching fruitlessly at the hillside. The assurance was more motivation for her than it was intended for her companion. In truth, Arina didn't enjoy challenges. She wasn't the type to seek them out and pour all her energy into them for the simple satisfaction of 'having done good'. She enjoyed hunting with her parents because obviously, it was just instinct. Blessed with long legs and a tireless amount of youthful energy, she enjoyed running. But riddles and finding hiding places? Her first nature in those situations was to do without or let somebody else figure it for her.
But that was hardly possible here, still driven by the mental image of a popsiclized self. She shivered briefly, shaking the thought out of her head like a too-hot blanket.
But as she shuffled along the side of the hill, leaving a long, jagged row of claw marks and divets in the snow like hatchmarks of failures behind her, a paw fell through. For a moment Arina hesitated, her body going rigid in slight surprise. Pink eyes blinked stupidly at what she had come upon, her leg stuck about elbow-length into the bank. "I think I found it!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:41 am
'Great! Because I think I just felt a raindrop hit the back of my neck!' And he was sure this was a real sort of raindrop this time, not that weird fake sensation of wet he had experienced minutes before for whatever reason (maybe the snow was getting to his head?). After all, fake couldn't feel real, right? Least he thought so, because Adam was sure he wasn't suddenly hallucinating that little sodden spot that gave him even more of the willies thansk to the cold temperature, and God forbid if he actually got pelted with -
Plop. Plop. Plop. Ploploploploplop . . .
Holes in the snow were suddenly burnt through as little by little the raindrops fell. One smacked the male's nose and made him sneeze a little. He hastened his pace after Arina. 'Quick! Or we're icicles!' Adam yipped, sliding right into the hole sheh ad just uncovered with little forethought to its depth; subsequentially, he plopped on his rump a little harder than expected. 'Ooooow . . .'
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:06 pm
Arina gave a snort of surprise as Adam practically charged passed her and into the hole. Though while peering into the dark to check up on him -his cry was enough to tell that he'd certainly never been there before- she herself felt the freezing cold bead of moisture splatter across her forehead, giving her for a moment a spooked expression.
No wonder he had worried they would freeze. "Move over!" The teen bossed, slipping -almost quite literally for the frozen ground- into the darkened hole and shifting to settle in on her stomach beside him. For a moment her bright fuchsia eyes seemed to glow in the dim, grey light but faded as she turned away. "What did you think this was, a tunnel? You're lucky you didn't bust open your whole face. I knew someone who did that, you know? It was nasty. Not a pretty picture at all." But looking at him she bumped his shoulder lightly, glad that indeed he didn't get hurt that bad. She wasn't sure what it did look like to 'bust your face open', but she imagined it like a fresh prey, but with a face of someone you knew. She shook her head to rid herself of the image, glancing back out of the earthen hovel.
Outside the rain came down quicker than she would've thought, almost in needle-like sheets, making little crunching sounds as the devoured the snow then disappeared. She didn't understand that aspect. Where did it all go? Snow was rain, but rain wasn't snow. It could've been, for how cold it was. But it was just normal and wet. Too wet for her own personal tastes today, if not on all days. Her eyes traced the edge of the hole, the exposed roots forming the door. The ceiling of the cavern, high enough so that she could just walk about without brushing it, was a tangled criss-cross of tree roots, mixed in with rocks and packed dirt, held in like items in a basket. The hole was certainly not expansive, only a few feet from her nose were the lumps of snow that marked the entrance. But it would suffice until the rain ended. Expelling a warm cloud of air into the cold, Arina wondered how long that would really be.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:13 am
'Sheesh, okay, okay . . .' He was just getting around to moving, thanks; hitting your tail like that wasn't as soft as it sounded - not like falling into a pile of leaves at all! So Adam huffed a tad when he was ordered, acquiescing only so that he could breath easier with both of them now hidden underground like moles; or at least, it befitted him as he was already half-blind anyway. Yet in the near absolute of darkness, he found that the girl seemed to glow in his vision, a pretty swirl of pinks and yellows and greens that moved . . . It was mesmerizing, and after several seconds Adam had to blink to bring himself back to reality. "Pretty colors . . ."
Sometimes the wind would blow, sending sheets of cold rain tumbling through the entrance, but otherwise they remained relatively dry. And cold. Adam shivered and attempted subtly to nuzzle closer to her for body warmth, wishing they weren't so cramped. "So, um . . . what's your name again?" he asked, forgetting to do so long ago. "And, uh, know any stories to pass the time, not-queen? I bet that's not the first monster you've chased off."
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:12 am
"What?" Arina swiveled her head to face him, an eyebrow cocked at his mumbled nonsense. There was nothing 'pretty' about today, at least not now. The sky was dark and dim, the snow an ugly mixture of grey and brown spots as it melted. Even the light inside their little bunker, casting deep shadows was ugly to her. There was nothing beautiful in sight!
Of course, peering through the storm outside she was want to think of her own family. She could see her father and sister clearly in her mind's eye, both neon and enviously blatant even huddled up in the den. Her mother, Amaury was scarcely more than a pair of golden eyes or a soft streak of red against the brown. Would they be worried about her? In the self-deprecating way that teenagers are, the female doubted it. Shagufta was barely seen with her mouth shut, and they lapped it up, they wouldn't even have noticed that she had left, more likely.
With that thought in her head she shifted her position against Adam, both relieved and slightly embarrassed by the comfort of another pelt, and began to chew on her paws. They were filthy from the entire day's events. Covered in a base-coat of half-dry mud and breaded with clumps of thick snow and ice, they made her paws ache with cold. "Ha!" It was all she could find to express. Once more she glanced over to him. "We've been together all morning...and you don't even know my name?" It was too weird in her mind, almost insane. Here she was, packaged up like a sardine in some hovel, and he didn't even know her name? She supposed it was only half her fault. He hadn't thought until now to ask, right?
"It's Arina." She replied, shaking her head. "Though this is generally not the situation people introduce themselves."
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