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 Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:37 am
No stared transfixed at the moving shapes in the distance, and exhaled. “Better not to tempt it.” She implored softly. “Some might be lazy, but they say a lot of them like things live.” The black lioness paused for a moment as if to darkly consider the implications, and turned away from the shapes. “I heard some of them just like to take shots at lions. Ugly, smelly things.” She balked. “If I was stronger, and if I was queen of the pridelands, I would not even give them here.”
In the distance, a cloud of dust suddenly puffed up from a bone pile. No stopped and alighted her ears, curving her lean tail forwards the channel the energy that suddenly pulled through her body. The dust cloud exerted itself again- this time with a thwack, and a second later the skull of a herds beast hit the canyon ground with a loud clack and broke in two. The dust settled, but not before a few other splinters of bone tumbled down behind the skull.
No sniffed and gave Kidondo a glance, before slowly slinking up towards the skull. Small pieces of rot and dirt clung to the insides where it had snapped down the center- and with a bitter expression, she stepped over it. She looked upwards and observed where it had fallen from- but saw little indication of what might have caused it.
From the canyon they had passed there was a sudden chorus of snapping howls as some of the shadows started to fight over the carcass. No scrunched her brow and took a few hobbling steps forward. “Probably should keep moving.” She half spoke, and turned away from the darkness and focused on the grey land ahead.
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:59 am
"Don't say that." Kidondo whispered, "you might jinx it or something and they'll decide to come after us instead." He shuddered and moved closer to the female, seekign comfort in being with another. The world was lot better when you could share it with a friend and as far as he was concerned No was a friend. "If they do decide to have a go at us I'll show them my claws." He puffed out his chest a little and blinked his strange golden eyes.
"Do you think--" His whispered words were cut off by the rattling of the skull that toppled from it's place and landed just a short way ahead of them. Kidondo's first reaction was to shrink back but as he saw No continue he regained his strong posture and sidled up beside her, taking his time to investigate the broken skull.
What poor creature had that belonged to?
He lowered his blunt muzzle to snuffle at an empty eye socket, uttering a small sneeze as the old dust tickled at his nostrils. Then giving a small start he hurried to catch up with his companion, pausing to glance in the direction of the carcass. The howls were chilling and even Kidondo had to admit that he was a little more than nervous at being so close to such savages. It was with great relief that he agreed with the female and followed after her. Moving delicately beside her.
"This place is so unnatural." He muttered, "I wish my friends had not chosen this place to stay."
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:16 am
No gently flattened her ears as Kidondo walked close to her. She could just faintly feel his side inches from her, and there was something she liked about that. Not quite touching but- her ears pressed a bit further, and had it not been for the otherwise terrifying landscape, she would have smiled. But even pleased by the feeling- she couldn’t smile just yet. “Sorry,” She spoke as the walked by the broken skull. “I’m a bad jinxer.” She really was, she supposed. She’d heard legends that black felines were unlucky but... She swallowed. But her thoughts somewhat abated when he made a quick boast to fend off any dark shadows with his claws. Even if it was unrealistic, she couldn’t help but think he could. She’d certainly put her claws into the match if it came down to it.
A bird rustled, and she narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like this place. Even if I can blend in...” She frowned, and picked up the pace. The laughing and snarling in the distance she tried to swallow back as white noise. “Do you think people come here because they can’t live anywhere else?” She hated to think even the most pathetic lion could come to that. And besides that- what made all these animals just die here? That alone was eerie. “All the rot has made the land grey. Lots of stuff growths off of dead things...but not here.” She concluded softly. She didn’t know his friends- or, subjects as it were. But she wondered if this was a place of desperation for them, or if they embraced the cemetery willingly.
The bird that had been up on the ridge suddenly spread it’s wings and took off into the air. No crouched and flicked the end of her tail. It spun around a few times in the air, and suddenly everything was very quiet.
“You don’t think I’m unlucky, do you?” She suddenly balked, as if admitting it could dispell the notion. But before she could hear his answer, another torrent of bones fell from the top shaft. They fell in a way that left them in the pathway, and she skittered to the right to avoid a falling leg bone. It bounced and clattered with the rest of them, and the small gorge was filled with bone dust.
No coughed and groaned. “I guess so-“ She started, when she noticed there was noise from above. Her head jerked up, and standing on top of one of the ridges, poised a very sleek looking back hyena. She looked as if she had been casually sauntering down the ridge with disregard to how the bones fell below- but now she was quite intently looking upon the two cubs.
“Bad luck-?” Came a heavily accented voice from the scarred muzzle. “I hardly think you are bad luck for me!”
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:48 am
Kidondo's lungs felt somewhat choked, perhaps from being surrounded by death. He despised such a word, because with it came loss and failure - something he never wanted to encounter - though that was a silly idea in itself. Staring into the eyes of a thousand skulls had found a strange fear that had been locked inside him and he didn't much appreciate it.
Looking into the faces of the dead was not something he ever wanted to do again after this day. He could not help but imagine what they had been like when they were alive and happy. The antelope, the lions, the creatures he could only imagine from the strange shapes of their bones. Had they suffered here for long, or had their dead bodies been dragged to this terrible place?
No's question took him by surprise, her words startling him out of his reverie to stare into her glassy green eyes. For a moment the fur along his back fluffed up and there was a flickering of surprise in his expression. But as quickly as it appeared it was gone and his princely posture returned.
However he wasn't given time to respond as somewhere up above them on a bony ledge an unseen creature made itself known. His heart did a strange flip but where most would cower away Kidondo knew such a thing would be shameful.
Instead the young princeling stepped forth as if to protect the female from harm. He was large for a juvenile, perhaps almost entering adolescence -but he would still not be much match for the hyena.
"What an ugly beast." He snapped in his high-and-mighty tone. "How dare you speak like that to us! Do you not know who we are?" He did so love putting on an act, even if it was a dangerous one. "Tell me inferior, why are you here and not at the rotting carcass? Were you driven away?" His words were not nessecarily meant as taunts, he was simply enquiring as was shown by his tone.
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:08 am
She’d been expecting words, but perhaps not like this. Scheherazade snorted and narrowed her dark green eyes, jumping effortlessly down from the ledge and landing with a puff of dust on the water parched earth. The male child gravitated quickly towards the smaller one, and she irritably snorted. Mostly because she hated implications of connection. It was hard to tell if they were siblings or lovelings, but she hated them already. And she certainly didn’t like how the male child had actually managed to make her pride feel wounded. She bristled with contempt as she gardened an answer.
In truth- she’d been the one they’d heard shrieking a few minutes ago when the other hyenas had chased her off of the dying carcass. They’d been refusing to give her the amount she deserved- and as if the infuriation of being kicked out was enough, now she was getting harassed by her dessert. By her pause- it was probably apparent to both the children that she was lying. “Hah!” Scheherazade snapped. “Kicked out? Why eat rotting filth when there are fine fat cubs to eat instead!”
No hissed, folding her ears back and prickling the small hairs on her back.
“But I’ll humor you little foodlings- who do I have the honor of eating?” Scheherazade mused. Kicking up her feet, she strolled around the pair of cubs. “Why! The King and Queen of the Graveyard? No no- where are their attendants? Hah! A fine story you’ll make, I think.” Scheherazade smirked, and stopped her circling.
As she moved, No had made a careful spin to make sure they never lost contact with her face. She liked to talk- so that was a good thing. Maybe if they kept her talking they could make a run for it when she was good an into her whole dramatics. There were plenty of places to hide. Or maybe...
“I think she was kicked out.” No suddenly spoke in a sharp voice, and she sat. “She smells like rotten meat."
Scheherazade balked. "You- shut up!" She hissed.
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:55 am
His head tilted very slightly and his emotionless little face continued to peer up at this strange beast. She was a very ugly thing, her mane all ragged and thin, her nose too long and her ears too big. Even her tail looked like it was some fuzzy little animal attached to her rear end.
"By the looks of this place I'd have assumed you would have aquired the taste for rotten meat by now."
His head twisted around to face his new friend and with a small and thoughtful nod he snuffled his nose, puffed out his chest and glared right at the hyena with the eyes of confidence. "Me too, otherwise she'd still be over there now gnawing at bones."
Then continuing, "why do you want to know our names? They are of no importance to a being who is more inferior than the inferiors." He blinked slowly and his strange golden, seer eyes seemed to darken. "Besides we have no desire to become your meal, so it's best you step aside now or I'll be forced to use a stronger means of persuading you." Just how he was going to do that was still unclear to him.
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:13 pm
Scheherazade pulled back her head and snorted in surprise. It was an involuntary reaction, and one which she immediately regretted. Despite wishing to eat the children- she had not particularly cared either way for them. Now she found herself loathing. How dare they speak to her like that? But what outraged her more was that by the young male’s threats, she had felt a quickening in her heart. How dare he make her actually consider his pitiful boast. But those eyes! She did not like those eyes! They were not like her own. They were not even like his little black friend. They were nothing special- they had no disfiguring marks or peculiarities. But they were different. She hated those eyes.
“Stronger means of persuading me?” She balked. “What are you going to do- scratch me?”
The bones in her shoulders flexed and she found herself sidestepping again. “You-you!” She stumbled, feeling the fury rise into her. “You lions will never understand the superiority of my kind to yours. In your kind women are lazy fat whores who do the hunting for even lazier fat men. In my kind we are strong! We kill out brothers when we are just whelplings so we may survive. There are no fat hyenas.”
No sniffed, and cooled her jade eyes. “Perhaps they can’t hunt well.” She suggested flatly.
Scheherazade snarled. This was getting far too infuriating to tolerate! “Hunt well? We need not hunt if we don’t need to-“
The black cub shifted uncomfortably, but did not allow fear to seep in. She wanted them to be afraid, didn’t she? “I guess you won’t be needing us then.”
“That was not what I meant-!”
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Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 9:44 am
(( *short and sucky because the good one was lost* ))
"You talk rubbish. Lionesses cannot be fat and lazy and be able to hunt at the same time." He wrinkled his snout and moved closer to No, his right paw coming to rest right beside her left one.
"You're right No, she's jealous because all she can do is scavenge." Then with a swish of his tail he gave a small nudge against No with the side of his face. "Come on, let's get out of here. That way she can roam around the bones in peace. There must be some scrap of meat in this death hole."
Then with a small squeak of realisation he raised his head to glance into the hyena's face and smiled. The smile however was not cheerful, in fact it was quite the opposite. "Scratch you? Hmmm....perhaps. It's a shame I'm in no mood to fight or else you'd see firsthand what I can do."
Pretend to be strong and you could appear to be a God. Or that's what he believed anyway. Imagination was far more vivid than real life.
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:28 am
No watched the hyena slowly, swallowing down the nervous feeling in her chest. They were alright. They could talk their way out of this, a mental mantra slowly repeated. How could Kidondo die anyways? Kings didn’t die in places like this. It just didn’t happen in all the stories she’d been told about wayward adventuring. [She did note however- the bumbling sidekick often got it. She squared her jaw in an attempt not to be bumbling. She wasn’t bumbling. Stumbling, occasionally, but certainly not bumbling!] Ugly, disgusting hyena.
She felt his head lightly bump against her shoulder. “Oh?” She puffed and flattened her ears shyly, before noting he was signaling for them to move. Turning around on the hyena. No prickled her whiskers, and peered at the scarred female. “Doesn’t take a big paw to scratch out an eye.” No remarked cooly, and rounded the turn with him.
Scheherazade blistered. She wasn’t going to take this! Not from snotty pridelanders and little boys with eerie eyes. But she hated that she could not act until they were not upon her. She did not like looking at those eyes. There was something unnatural about it. When she killed him, she’d have to take them out and burry them so whatever magic did not infect her too. [Which would be unfortunate. The eyes were the best part.]
“Foolish arrogant children.” The female snapped harshly.
No flinched, and glanced over her shoulder in time to see the hyena buck back to run. Her paws stumbled for a minute, before she knocked against Kidondo to catch his attention and started to run. There was a wall of bones up in the distance- it didn’t seem like it would be hard to climb. Since they had already turned around, they had a pretty good head start on it too.
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Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 9:29 am
Somewhat impressed by the black female's words Kidondo couldn't help but smile at her remark to the hyena. Scaring such idiot beasts with words was more fun than he cared to admit.
It was only when his companions knocked into him that he realised the hyena was taking action. With a small growl he hesitated only a moment before running to catch up with No. He hated to flee like this, especially after making himself seem so strong, but fighting now would be suicide. He could not afford to die and so running was the only option.
His paws left the ground as he leapt forwards towards the mountain of bones, claws extended as he made toland. He struck the wall rather ungracefully, black claws wrenching him up as he battled to gain height.
The fur on his shoulders was bristled and his strange unnatural eyes seemed to darken. For a moment he slipped on a loose bone but it didn't take him too long to get ready.
"Keep going!" He called to No to encourage both her and himself.
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Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 9:52 am
No scrambled ahead, stopping for barely a second to be sure Kidondo had moved when she’d started. He seemed to hesitate long enough for her to flinch in response, but then they were both running and the black cat realized she had best watch her own feet and not his. In front was the wall. She’d scaled something like it before when she had first entered the canyon- but this one looked a bit more unstable then she would have liked. Not that there was any time to change directions now- and honestly, No doubted she would have been able to run quick enough to some other sanctuary.
The black female pounced, scrabbling up the bone pile with surprising grace- but mostly because she was smaller then her accomplice. With a huff she yanked herself up onto a flat ridge of rock, before hopping up again and scrabbling to get a grip on the next level of hooks and niches.
Down below, the now seriously agitated hyena balked at the children. “Climbing isn’t going to help you any!” She snarled and ran straight for the wall. But before she lept she stopped, suddenly become unnerved by the height. She spun around a couple of times before launching herself onto the bones- but her weight quickly made it apparent that she would either topple down half the debris or fall off.
No peered down at the struggling female. She wasn’t making much ground on the wall- but she was larger, and she wasn’t sure if the hyena could simply fall back down and make a well timed jump to get where they were.
As if the thought had tipped Shez off, she stumbled off the bone pile and made another circular run, gaining speed so she could get a good hop. And it seemed likely that she would- but thanks to the young lion’s movements and her frontward charge, a bone knocked free by the scrambling paws met at precisely the right moment with the front of the hyena’s nose.
She shrieked and fell backwards onto her back, rolling over and snorting as blood started to ooze from her nose. The black cat paused, and leaned forward to get a better look.
Down below, the black hyena made another toss of her head, and snorted out a red, snotty mist. “You damn-!” She started before she coughed and sneeze against the pain. Furiously she kicked the bone that had hit her, and it clattered to the sidewall. The female made another snort and made a rather pitiful charge back towards the wall- but before she could jump this time, she slipped on the dripping liquid and smacked into the side.
Thoroughly humiliated and angry enough to burn, the hyena took a few steps back, rubbed her bleeding nose and hollered back to the children. “If I ever see you again...! I-‘ll-!!” She shouted.
No frowned and kicked a bone down which broke in two at the bottom. The top was about five feet ahead- and it didn’t take too much longer to reach the top of the pile, which was bridged with cliff wall.
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:29 am
His lucky hit with the bone went unnoticed until JKidondo found a safe spot to stop and turn. His strange eyes lowered to where the hyena stood, watching the blood with an intense gaze. The scent of it flooded his nostrils with such incredible strength that he almost let his killing instinct dominate him.
He jerked almost fearfully from his thoughts and covered it with a small bout of laughter.
"And with creatures like that in the world it's no wonder we're on top of the foodchain." He watched the bone that No kicked tumble down and shatter before continuing onwards.
"So..." He began. "Still want to help me find my friends?" He wouldn't blame her if she wanted to head home after what had just happened. Though possibly he should escourt her back to make sure she'd get home safely.
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:43 am
No breathed, settling the rustling in her frame. It was true- nothing quite like that had ever happened to her before, and she was sure if her mother or father had been there they would have at once been demanding her to return back home. But as she stared down at the flailing form of the hyena, she found she wasn’t as scared as she thought she had been. Half of it was excitement, and now it was boiling in her blood. She shifted her tail and sniffed bitterly in the direction of the hyena. Kidondo’s words brought her head to turn around.
A wry grin crossed about her face, and she leaned downwards in a long and length stretch. “Well, I didn’t just climb this thing to go home, did I?” She remarked. After the stretch, she felt much more at ease. Should she have been concerned that she was not terrified?
The black cat rose back to her feet and strolled towards the red child. “Nah. I don’t stop things once I start them. It’s pretty high up on this rock. Maybe we can get find a lookout our for them.” She started, walking forwards and suddenly becoming very serious in her discussion of the logistics. Her voice trailed off- but the slight sway of her tail kept up.
There was no way she was about to turn this feeling down- whatever it was.
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