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 Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 7:19 am
Of course he ran away. He hated being around people that didn't like him. And with how quickly people judged him these days, he couldn't stand to be around most Gladiers. He was starting to wonder why Ithil was so quiet after his jump when she was suddenly there and yelling at him. 'Wait, did she just say "incredible"?' He turned to look at her, taking a step back in surprise when he realized she was crying. He opened his mouth to reply, but then the Gladier collapsed. "Ah--!" What was he supposed to do now?!
His level head kicked in a minute later. 'The shelter. I need to get her to the shelter.' Lightning somehow managed to get the female onto his back, but his short trek to the shelter was slow; he didn't want to drop her. He carefully slid Ithil-Alu off of his back, laying her down at the edge of the shelter. 'I'll end up running her into the bushes if I slide her in. It's too narrow...' Well, he'd just have to widen it. Lightning got in and started digging, mud flying out of the hole. He tried to aim the mud away from Ithil-Alu; he didn't want to disturb her. Once he was done, the shelter was about twice the size it had been--and big enough for him to pull Ithil in without problems. He leaned back on his haunches and carefully slid Ithil down the sloped side of the shelter, slowly backing up so that she was gently rested on the shelter's floor a minute later. Lightning sighed in relief, then went to the opposite corner of the box-shaped pit. He turned his eyes to the sky, watching the storm continue to rage. When the lightning flashed, he swore he saw a bird-shaped shadow within the clouds. 'Rai?' He climbed out of the shelter so he could see better, his heart sinking as he saw the lightning flash again, this time void of the familiar shape. '... Even if I ran at my top speed, I wouldn't get to the mountains in time,' he thought regretfully. And although he kept butting heads with her, he'd feel bad if he left Ithil-Alu by herself.
Lightning glanced around, blinking when he spotted a bush further away. 'Rasberries...' He searched around until he found a large chunk of bark that had ripped off a tree, dragging it to the rasberry bush. He carefully broke clusters of the berries off with his teeth and dropped them onto the bark. 'I bet there's more things to eat around here too...' By the time he returned to the shelter, he had collected a small feast. At least, what he saw as a small feast. Most other people wouldn't see it as much, but it was a lot to him. Lightning set the bark in the middle of the shelter before curling up in the corner opposite of Ithil again. He closed his eyes, listening to the storm and ignoring the fact that his entire frame was coated in mud. 'Sounds like the storm's still at its peak...' If that was the case, they'd be stuck here for a while...
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:52 am
Stupid. Well not conscious yet Ith was watching the jump that Lightning pawn had made again and again. It was amazing to watch. The other gladier was so at ease with his body. The replay in her mind had him failing his landing again and again. Ith hated the smell and sight of blood. She’d seen too much of it in the past. She had a friend who was reckless like the male was. Her friend had died a horrible death and Ith hadn’t even found out until the day after. She hated that she hadn’t been there to help. Perhaps if she had things would have been different. That was why she couldn’t just leave a gladier to be reckless like the male was. Even if she didn’t know him he must have someone that he cared for or that cared for him. Ithil would not let another suffer like she had. To cherish one so much only to have them snatched away in the blink of an eye. It hurt too much. Suddenly she could feel and hear lightning struck interrupting her vision of Lightning’s impending death. When the spots in front of her eyes cleared she could see Lightning standing triumphant from his jump. The replays stopped. She was so relieved she could have wept. No more death no more dying at least not this day.
Her body felt stiff as she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was red. Physically jerking all the way up she wondered if she hadn’t just imagined Lightning landing safely. It took her a moment to realize they were bits of fruit. It was on a section of bark and there was a fair amount there. Looking around Ith wondered what happened. She was in the shelter only it was different. It was much bigger. As her eyes wandered she saw Lightning Pawn. He looked like he was sleeping. She sighed and whispered softly since she was tired. “I’m glad you didn’t die you stupid pawn of storms.” She sniffled but managed to keep her tears back. Sitting down she looked at the fruit. The male had picked it? Well then that would mean it was Pawn’s food. He might get mad if she ate it. Her stomach rumbled at her in protest. Well a few berries wouldn’t hurt right? Besides so what if he yelled at her. They had both been yelling at each other since they met. And whose fault is that? Ah well I suppose I did yell at him a lot. I should try to be nicer. She was still staring at the fruit while she made up her mind. Finally she relented and took a few berries to munch on while she tried hard to think of how she could be nice. Of course he wouldn’t believe her and probably send her away. Still she’d deal with that that particular storm came.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 3:05 pm
Lightning opened an eye and fixed it on Ithil. He watched her munch on the berries for a moment before speaking up again. "... You ok?" He didn't move, didn't yell; tension usually developed when they were too close or too far away, and yelling wouldn't get him answers. He'd heard her sniffle; something had bothered her. That or she was getting a cold, which he doubted since she wasn't coughing or sneezing. And although they'd been cats and dogs, Lightning couldn't help but be worried; she had fainted, after all.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 4:25 pm
Ith froze with a berry half chewed in her mouth. He had been awake? Had he heard what she had said before? If he had he never made a comment on it. So perhaps not. She finished chewing slowly considering her options she had promised herself that she would be nicer to him, but how could she do that when all she wanted to do was to glare at him and tell him he should be worried more about himself doing reckless stupid things? Finishing she swallowed and nodded at him. “I’m fine, did you… You brought me here and got these?”
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 4:53 pm
Well, at least she wasn't yelling at him--yet. Lightning nodded slowly to her question. "You fainted," he stated, pointing out the obvious. A little embarrassed that he'd been caught doing something nice, he glanced away. "I couldn't just leave you there." As reckless and stupid as Ithil might see him, he wasn't heartless. He supposed he could've left her out in the storm and run off to avoid the headache of dealing with her, but he knew he would've regretted the action later. The Gladier sat up and looked at her again, his eyes inspecting her more thoroughly. "Are you sure you're ok?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:35 pm
She sighed. It’d figure that something so embarrassing would happen right in front of a male who liked to yell at her. She was surprised by his next statement. He actually had a heart? Well, well that was a surprise. She watched as he looked away. When he sat up and looked back at her she offered him a smile. “Well no I’m not alright, but I will be. There’s nothing you can do about it anyway.” She shrugged and nudged the bark with the berries toward him a bit. “Well you gathered all these you might as well eat them.” She’d only eaten a few but she really wasn’t hungry.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:57 pm
Although not completely satisfied with the answer, he reluctantly nodded to Ithil's response. When the food was nudged toward him, Lightning got to his feet. Wet mud slid off his fur in places, letting patches of his black and blue fur peek through. In other spots, the mud had dried and simply cracked from the pressure placed on it from the movement; most of it still clung to his fur. He trotted over and ate slowly despite his hunger. He didn't look at Ithil as he did, despite the urge to stare at her until she told him what was wrong. He didn't want to admit it, but the female had worried him--even scared him a little--with her sudden collapse. 'Is she really going to be ok?'
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:35 pm
Ith peeked at the male while he ate. He looked like a muddy mess. She supposed she didn’t look any better. She could feel the mud clumping her fur. She was tired by all the chaos and all the emotional up and down hills she had gone through today all she wanted to do was to curl up and sleep. Hopefully it would be a more peaceful on then her nightmare when she had fainted. She felt humiliated and wanted to cry, but that would take energy she just didn’t have. Outside the shelter thunder boomed making Ith wince. To her credit she didn’t jump, but maybe that was because she was too tired to. She wondered if she shouldn’t talk to the male after all he had taken care of her. “so ah… you were saying something back when you jumped. What was it?” It tried to remember.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:29 am
Lightning lifted his head, fixing those lightning blue eyes on her. "Before, during or after I jumped?" He glanced at the food for a moment. "I said a lot of things." Knowing she wouldn't be satisfied with that, he sighed and continued. "Before I was saying that having someone to hold me steady would require friends--or someone willing to come within ten feet of me. As I jumped I said I could take care of myself. And afterwards I said I was perfectly fine." And then Ithil had yelled at him and fainted. As his gaze returned to Ithil, his frown returned. "... Are you sure you'll be alright?" he asked again, keeping his gaze fixed on her this time. And was there really nothing he could do? Ithil looked so... fragile. He knew that she was anything but delicate and helpless, but it didn't stop him from worrying.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:43 pm
Smart alec pain in the paw. She just stared at him until he answered with what she wanted. She didn’t have to wait long. So he was unliked and alone? Well that just seemed odd. As long as he wasn’t doing stupid things or talking he didn’t seem so bad. Ithil was going to point out she didn’t really like him but had spent ample time within ten foot of him but thought better of it. She nearly said it anyway just to spite him for his last question, but a little corner of her brain told her she had promised to be nicer. “No I can’t be sure that I’m alright, to be sure of something is to set yourself up for failure.” Boy didn’t she know that one. “but I’m as alright as I can be. I can assure you I’ve been worse. All I am now is covered in mud and tired.” And still upset, but he didn’t need to see her weaker than he already had.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:59 pm
Lightning was still troubled, but he nodded anyway. He stretched as he finished eating, wincing slightly as he did so. "Well," he said, reluctantly turning to go back to his corner. "If there's anything I can do..." He couldn't exactly help with either problem; he had no clue how to override her terror of the storm and help her rest. Nor could he even think to offer to help rid her fur of the mud--if he did, he'd be gutted by the stubborn female in a heartbeat.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 11:00 am
The wince didn’t escape Itil’s notice. The male moved away and back to his corner. “Unless you can bring back the dead I really doubt it. Still it’s fine.” She moved over next to him. He had a lot of mud on him too. “Hey hold still I’ll get some of that mud off you. You look like your sore.” She gave him a look that dared him to argue with her. “Just consider it thanks for the food. And helping me out.” There that should shut any argument out that he could come up with.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 11:51 am
Lightning's body gave a jerk of surprise at her comment about bringing back the dead. "... If I could do that, I would've done it already," he mumbled, closing his eyes. They opened again, however, when Ithil's voice--much closer now--offered to get the mud off of him. Well, more like informed him; when he looked at her and opened his mouth to argue, she had that 'I won't take no for an answer' look on her face. He sighed and rested his head on his paws. "Fine," he muttered, going still again. Despite his lack of argument, his mind couldn't help but give him a list of reasons why he shouldn't let her "help" him. First and foremost was the network of scabs, scars, and fresh wounds hidden by his dark fur. How would Ithil react to those? Would she yell at him again, or maybe shirk away from the male that clearly had a fighting problem. 'Maybe she wouldn't see them at all,' a hopeful part of him suggested. It was storming, after all; between the rain and the dark, it would be likely that such things would be overlooked. Well, he could only hope. Lightning was getting sick of being yelled at.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:51 pm
That must have touched a nerve. Well everyone had someone dear to them and life eventually ended so it wasn’t to much of a surprise. Ithil waved away that path of thought while she set to work on the males fur. At least the male had the good sense not to ague she would have just started on him anyway and bit him if he resisted. She was too tired to argue. Honestly they booth looked like mud balls. She started in by knocking off the larger gobs of mud that had dried on his fur before moving into the deeper mud. It was dark enough that she didn’t notice any scars until she found a bit of mud that wouldn’t come off easily. Leaning in she peered at the mud. It was in a line and only barely raised about the skin. There were other lines intersecting it. It was a scar! Figuring out was it was Ithil felt bad she had been picking at it. “Sorry I thought that was mud.” Now that she saw one she noticed another and another. The more she cleaned the more scars she saw. There were also scabs that were now caked in mud. What the hell happened to him? She tilted her head and starred wondering for a moment before she remembered she was supposed to be cleaning. Some were old while others new. Whatever the male did he was reckless often. He really needed someone to hang on to him or he’d fall out of trees more often. Stupid male.
(she thinks it’s from tree climbing/falling…OTL)
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:12 pm
Lightning grunted when she picked at one of his scars, but let her continue her cleaning. Why he did, he didn't know; most Gladiers that got this close to him got a swipe across the nose. Maybe he just felt bad. After all, he'd caused her quite a bit of trouble, him and this storm. So despite the occasional prodding of scars and scabs, he remained still. He hissed in pain and jerked away, however, when Ithil's paws came in contact with a new wound. His fur puffed up as he glared at Ithil and backed away from her. The roar of thunder overhead seemed to snap him out of his little fit. His mind proceeded to call him twenty types of idiot as he slinked forward, embarrassed. "Sorry," he muttered. "Instinct." He laid down again and closed his eyes, hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with more yelling. Ithil-Alu had tolerated him longer than almost anyone else he'd met, and hopefully by the time the storm ended she wouldn't hate him to the core like all the others did.
(( If his instictive reactions to pain don't give him away, she might figure it out when she realizes the newer wounds are claw marks. ))
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