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 Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 7:29 am
Neve almost jumped when Aramis touched her, though she understood that he was attempting to comfort her. She gave him a weak little smile, feeling like she was a filly again, listening to her mother shout at her for not enjoying the meat she had bought her to eat.
Deep breaths she said to herself as they continued to follow the tracks and indications that showed that Izusa was nearby. She heard the cries for help just after Aramis did and gave a short nod to show she understood, and followed him. When they came across the unfolding scene, Neve almost took several steps back. There she was, her mother. She'd finally found her, and in the worst way possible. She'd known it was going to be difficult when she did but coming across her menacing two Soquili was painful.
It was her mother. And she had to stop her. Neve knew she was fully capable of taking down both of the Soquili. Neve shook her head once, and then spoke in an undertone.
"I'm going down there. If we both rush her she will react badly, she'll hurt one of those two worse than she already has. I'm going to distract her, when I get her attention, if you can help the others."
She had no idea what she was going to say but she had to hope that her turning up like this would be enough of a distraction to Izusa. ---------------------------------------------------------------->> Izusa laughed as the mare attacked her, scything her wings around and dodging the frantic attacks. A few landed however, a hoof to her side, a stinging slice with the needle that was the unicorn's horn but it just made her laugh more. She enjoyed this part best of all, the greatest thrill of the hunt was when blood was pumping, adrenaline was flowing and the prey was attempting to fight back. It delayed the moment of death, as though she enjoyed the taste of blood, once her prey was dead, she couldn't enjoy their fear any longer.
"Sting little bee. Sting. You'll die just as they do." using her wings as a shield, buffeting and slapping with them at the mare. She had loosened her grip of Fragment's leg and had begun to club him with the thicker, spine tipped length of her tail before he could raise himself too far from the ground. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------<@ Fragment was groggy, the wing slaps that had rained about his head had caught a few heavy blows and he was finding it hard to focus. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision, trying to get back to his hooves. He had to protect Rocksteady, it was all he could think of. His head was still swimming, but he managed to get his eyes to focus enough to see the tendrils around his leg, and he struck out at it, biting at the flesh wound around his limb.
From what seemed like far away he caught Rocksteady's movements, and heard her call out but his ears were still ringing and he couldn't quite make out what she was saying. He called out to her, managing to partially stand as the tail around his leg had withdrawn, yelling for Rocksteady to get away as the kalona mare started to beat him, her tail lashing at one of his shoulders.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:07 am
Some small part of him worried he had crossed a line in touching, as she jumped under his feathers, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to touch her, longed to be near her in a way he didn't fully understand. She smiled at him and his heart fluttered, despite their grim task. He muttered an awkward apology for startling her and grinned back, trying to force himself to be serious. He took a deep breath as they continued on until they found their prey. He felt suddenly helpless as he queried Neve on their next steps. He frowned at her suggestion of splitting up and opened his mouth to protest, but the noise of the scene before them reminded him that there was much more at stake here. He grimly nodded, his heart wrenching as he watched Neve make her way down to the vicious kalona mare. His muscles were painfully tight as he picked his way carefully down to the side of the scene, trying to stay out of sight of the kalona while also getting the other pair's attention. He fought down every urge to charge out and battle the mare as she pummeled the two weaker soquili savagely. He waited in the bushed, flinching at every savage blow the two were dealt and hoped Neve would be successful in distraction the creature he would not name as her mother. There was no way Neve was born of this.... monster. He saw no resemblance there in demeanor and could not imagine she had been anything motherly to Neve. There was an anger brewing within him as the seconds ticked by, feeling like hours.
He had to keep reminding himself that they were not here to hurt he kalona mare, that they were here merely to confront her. This was something Neve needed to do, and he had only to glance at her to know how hard it was for her. He took another deep breath and watched the fight, waiting for an opening and for Neve's signal. He was formulating the plan as he went. First he needed to whisk away the two victims, assess their wounds, heal them if necessary, and then make it back to Neve as quickly as possible lest she suffer a similar fate. He was anxious, worried he would fail someone in this chaotic mess of a situation. He hoped it wouldn't be Neve. As much as he felt bad for the two strangers, he was far more worried about the lovely mare he had arrives with.
He grit his teeth, determination on his face. He wouldn't disappoint her. Whatever she needed, he would do. If that meant taking down her mother, so be it. He turned his attention to the kalona, studying her movements in case he found himself pitted against her. Hurry up Neve... he thought.
She changed her tactics to evasion as she watched the two newcomers break apart, clearly trying to distract the beast before her. She felt relief mingling with her fear, her adrenaline still too high to feel the pain she knew she would be feeling later as she glanced down at her bloodied body. She looked over at Fragment again, concerned for him. His head was lolling to the side slightly, having taken quite a beating from the kalona. She was starting to panic again and backed away from the monster, only to bump into the cliff she had fallen down. She felt trapped, even knowing there was help nearby. She dodged and jumped at the kalona to get her away enough to reunite with Fragment.
"Are you ok? I think there's help nearby," she whispered in between continued insults thrown at their attacker. She surreptitiously glanced around until she relocated the large blue stallion she had seen previously. She didn't know where the mare had gone, but hoped she was going for more help. What was the stallion waiting for?
As she began to wonder what was going on, she got hit again by the kalona, resulting in a wicked cut across her shoulder. Her leg felt weak and she slumped over, slashing at the kalona with her other leg as she fell. She tried to get back up on three legs but she knew she was in bad shape against such an opponent. Was this it for them? She was winding down, getting tired as she tried to lead the kalona away from fragment again.
"Fragment, help" she said weakly, tears filling her eyes. She was unprepared for this. She hoped he could get it together enough to attack the mare from the side or behind as Rocksteady lead her away. Her movements were becoming slow as she wore down. She started to feel the pain creep in as the adrenaline faded. She was bruised and bleeding, with possible broken or cracked bones she could tell. The kalona had her wounds as well but she didn't seem to be slowing down in the least. Instead she seemed to be enjoying the fight, savoring the humiliation and slow degradation of their counterattack. They were never going to win this, and the kalona knew that from the start. She was clearly very experienced in battle, most likely from a lifetime of predatory behavior. She had a savage glee in her eyes that turned Rocksteady's blood to ice in her veins.
"Fragment," she cried, tears finally pulling free of her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. What had they done to deserve this? What Spirit had they angered? Or was it all random, and this was just their bad luck? She no longer longed for adventure. Now she only wanted to go back to a quiet place with Fragment telling her stories.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 12:23 pm
Fragment was furious; with himself, although there was no way he could have known that they would stumble across a Kalona, he'd been this way many a time and had seen no sign of any predators. But still, Rocksteady was in danger, and he felt that it was entirely his fault, that he should have prevented this somehow. And he was furious at the attacking mare, enough that it helped him, a surge of adrenaline came from somewhere and despite the fact that the kalona was still battering at him around the shoulders, he pushed himself fully upright, and bodily thrust himself between the attacker and Rocksteady.
"Keep behind me, try and back up." he said, wincing as Izusa struck out again, and he took the blow, not attempting to fight back as he wanted to absorb all the attacks. He didn't care about his pain, he just wanted Rocksteady to be okay, for her to be able to escape, so if this was to be his last act, than this was how it was to be. ---------------------------------------------------------------->> "Don't you taste sweet" Izusa took a moment to lick blood from one of her wings, pausing her attacks for the moment, looking at her prey. She could hear the fear, the despair in the mare's voice and she wanted to savour it, let it wash over her like the blood before she ended them both. A step forwards...and then she stopped, nostrils flaring, eyes narrowing and she looked around, her ears moving about, trying to track down who was approaching.
"Come out. Neve." she said her daughter's name, having worked out the familiar scent that she could just make out above the blood and fear. When the mare stepped forwards she smiled at her, her tongue circling one of her fang teeth before speaking again.
"Have you come to partake in my feast? No, no, you were always squeamish about that. So what could you be here for?" she tilted her head. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------<@ "Mother." Neve said simply, her voice cold, though slightly shaky. She knew that it was unlikely that Izusa would have stopped killing in the time since she'd last seen her, she was a predator and always had been. It was what she was. She didn't like it, but all she could do was stop her whenever she was in her life. And she certainly wasn't going to let her kill two Soquili.
"Let them go. We need to talk." she walked out in front of Izusa, standing between her and the two injured Soquili. She stared her mother down, and stepped forwards, forcing the kalona to take a few steps back. They had clashed a few times, and she knew that she was able to give out as much as her mother could dish out, but that had been some time ago, and Izusa seemed more lucid than she could remember.
As she edged Izusa backwards, she made a small motioning movement with a wing tip, hoping that Aramis would catch it and make his way to the Soquili that needed help
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