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 Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:56 am
"Nice one, Prince. I hope you'cn sprout some wings that're more effective than mine."
Cyrus would generally be fine with dodging the bubbling pools, but he had his doubts about Inari being so fortunate. His useless wings stretched out and his claws clacked at the hard ground, scraping at it idly.
After staring before them for a short while, his head snapped around, glaring at Inari with the same cruel glare as before, an uncaring scowl across his maw. He said nothing for a moment, just glared.
"So th'n, are you up for't, Princey? Follow my lead 'n try t'keep up some."
He had just barely finished speaking before he jolted forth, dodging pools and bubbles of molten rock as they flared up. A hop or two here and there, mostly just fleet of foot. He reached the other side and spun around, to face Inari's direction, sturdy with an intent look on his face. However, his taunting smirk soon returned and he called out to Inari.
"Even you c'n make that one, Prince."
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:10 am
Inari watched incredulously as Cyrus seemingly with ease weaved himself throughout the foaming lava. Normally he wouldn’t even think twice about jumping through after his irate companion. As it was no though he paused for a split second before irrational pride propelled him forward. His movements were clumsy and slow as he unconsciously shifter weight from his leg, and had more than one close encounter. By the time he had reached Cyrus he wasn’t quite as unscathed as he’d have preferred, his cheek slightly charred from misjudging a jump.
Scowling defiantly towards Cyrus smirking face Inari continued forward, not allowing himself to be shown up by the other.
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:20 am
Cyrus' smugness was working as perfectly as he had planned. He was beginning to understand the way Inari functioned, and knew that Cyrus's air of competitiveness would draw attention away from his physical self, say, his legs for example.
This time, he followed Inari, since the path was becoming narrow and even if he wanted to he could not get ahead of Inari unless he climbed over him. That seemed a little too undignified of course, not to mention that Cyrus wanted to use his legs as little as possible until they could get to some nice cool water.
He was thankful that they couldn't move too quickly in the passage, because he knew that he would be lagging at this point. During one of his leaps over a lava pool, the magma had bubbled up higher and at a time not anticipated by him. Since it had made contact with his fur only for a moment, there was not too much damage done, but nevertheless, his ankles were singed and it was very painful. Not to mention that said wounds would become infected if something wasn't done before too long.
At this point, Cyrus wanted out of there, or to magically come across a nice hot spring in which to rest his injuries.
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:38 am
Trudging forward, Inari couldn’t brush the feeling of dizziness that kept brushing the edge of his mind, the heat slowly beginning to take its toll on him. Glancing upwards his eyes searched the wall a ways off; the large crack filtering light from outside was so much closer now...
Turning to look over his shoulder he considered Cyrus for a moment, with his mouth shut and not spouting scornful words he was quite tolerable. Pushing the thought aside Inari bit back a snide comment to cover up the sudden awkwardness he felt, instead unconsciously quickening his pace.
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:58 pm
Cyrus silently swore to himself as Inari's pace increased. He tried to keep up, bearing the lingering pain that it inflicted on his back legs, but even so was still lagging a bit. He too, noticed the crack in the wall up ahead that would lead them too the outside, and since they hadn't gone terribly far from the crevice they had fallen into, the river should still be nearby.
At that thought, his ears perked up and his eyes remained focused on the opening- he was even beginning to feel a tinge of desperation to reach it.
When they reached the new chamber, it was fairly similar to the previous one, save for that there was a larger quantity of igneous rock from hardened lava, and said rock was very porous, allowing steam and smoke to billow through the holes.
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:15 pm
Tilting his head back slightly Inaris’ brows creased, a small frown dominating his features as Cyrus began to lag ever so slightly behind. A small sense of relief flooded him, the exertion Cyrus had put on his body was finally catching up with him. Which would work well in Inaris’ favor once back in the open, effectively making it simpler to loose the other.
His eyes settled on the dried and clotted on Cyrus’ forelegs, from where he had lashed out earlier. Surely this couldn’t be what was slowing down the Undulcan, he had been fine until now. Inari found himself slamming the lid shut on his emotions as the bubbling feeling of guilt arose. He refused to concern himself over this Ulayua. Besides, He’s the one that fancied it would be fun to get himself stuck down here.
Inari didn’t even pause before heading into the next chamber, a decision he regretted with each new step he took. The steam wafting up from rocks made the floor almost unbearably hot, and course rocks further added to his agitation as they scrapped roughly against the pads of his feet.
Letting a long sigh out Inari rolled his eyes to the heavens. After all this was done and over with he just wanted to return to the lush forest he had come from and sleep his exhaustion off. He was abrupty brought back from his thoughts as steam shot up from where he stepped, a soft whine escaped his throat at the burning sensation. They were about halfway across the cavern now, leaving only a few paces between them and they’re way out.
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 10:27 pm
The intense heat didn't bother Cyrus too much- and even better was that heat killed bacteria that may be attempting to infect his wounds, all four or so of them. His energy was being drained much more quickly than usual due to the extra effort, so his body couldn't keep up with his temper, and so he was relatively calm. Wings folded and eyes a bit dull, he trudged behind Inari as they crossed the room.
Cyrus' eyes narrowed as he watched the hot steam billowing up from the ground. He bore his fangs in irritation, but nothing more, and ignored Inari's whine. He pushed past him, glaring at the opening in the wall and walking forward unfalteringly. Just before the spout of steam before him he stopped in his tracks and took several steps back, sinking down to a pouncing position. At that, he braced himself for pain and jolted forward, taking a great leap over the steam so that it only brushed his stomach and did very little damage. However, he failed to stick his landing, failed very much so as a matter of fact. His legs turned to jello- as if his bones were made of rubber, and they folded under him as he landed. His body scraped across the rocky ground for a couple feet before stopping, and he didn't move from where he had stopped.
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:25 pm
“Graceful.” Inari called sarcastically towards Cyrus, just able to make out the others sprawled silhouette through the steam. Waiting for the inevitable malicious jab back he was meet with only a dull silence.
Unnerved Inari shifted uneasily, before following Cyrus’ example, vaulting himself across steam-clouded ground. Claws scratched roughly against rock to keep himself from tumbling over as he skidded to a stop. Opening eyes he had unconsciously squeezed shut Inari was meet with the sight of trees and the soft trickling sound of water- He was merely feet away from cracking cavers opening.
Snapping his gaze towards Cyrus Inari took one last fleeting look outside before moving to his side. “Hurry and get up” he snapped, irritated at Cyrus’ lack of response. Getting no reaction from Cyrus’ Inari scowled, anxiously nudging slightly at the other.
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Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:36 pm
Cyrus' eyes were barely open, staring blankly at the wall. When Inari came over, they slowly shifted over to him, at which time he coughed a bit and made his usual snide remark.
"See you made it all right, Prince."
After he had finished speaking, his voice having been forced and breathless, his eyes shifted back to the wall. Black claws scratched at the ground as he attempted to pick himself up with only his forelegs. It wasn't long before he gave up, knowing that it was useless and that he was wasting what little energy he had. After mentally cursing his wings for being useless, he spoke in the same strained voice to Inari.
"I suggest y'go on without me, Princey. Y'got lucky this time."
The wings on his back which had previously been stretched out in muscle strain went limp, draped over his shoulders. His attempt to stand had left him laying on his stomach, and his eyes were blank, staring at the crack in the wall that outside light poured through.
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:21 pm
Unease washed over him as Inari watched Cyrus fail to pull himself to his feet, though quickly the feeling was replaced with irrational anger- For Cyrus to simply roll over and give up, after time again proving his strength over Inaris’ own, irritated him to no end.
“As you wish,” Inari sneered down at Cyrus and, without giving the other another glance leaped through the opening.
Squinting his eyes at the sudden light Inari took in his surroundings. They had traveled farther than he had thought, large pine trees and dense undergrowth crowed around him, though the same clear stream still trickled nearby.
Now outside he felt a pang of guilt for simply leaving Cyrus behind. He supposed it wasn’t completely the others fault for getting himself injured.
Growling in irritation he bound back through the crack, hurrying to Cyrus’ side. He might as well get it over with quickly.
"...Can you stand long enough for me to get under you?” He cursed himself as a light blush tinged his face. Glancing away from Cyrus he continued “What I mean is, although I’m not as strong as you, I’m not exactly some weak girl either. So, I suppose I could carry you out.” Schooling his expression into a scowl he looked back towards Cyrus. “There’s a stream not far off that you could rest by. Unless of course you want to stay here.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 2:27 am
Cyrus felt an awkward blow to his stomach when Inari exited the cave, leaving him there in the hot steam chamber, but from what he couldn't exactly tell. He was enraged that Inari had the gaul to just leave him lying there to rot, but he knew that that wasn't all. A tinge of desperation had struck him when Inari left, since it was likely that he would never see him again- that or Inari would go out of his way to be sure that he never saw him again. This made no sense to Cyrus aside from the fact that Inari was fun to toy with.
Of course, it was not long before Inari bounded back into the chamber to aid Cyrus in exiting, which was even worse than him never seeing him ever again. Fangs bared as he growled at Inari, and his muscles shuddered as he forced them into overdrive to stand.
"Maybe I do want'to stay! I'd rather stay than 't have help from the likes of you." With much difficulty, he stood. Limping, he pushed past Inari, snorting loudly as he passed him.
It wasn't long before he was out of the cave and was limping to the stream to clean his injuries.
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Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:22 pm
Oh, that was rather embarrassing. “Stobborn.” Inari snapped. He gave the place Cyrus had left from one last dirty look before leaving himself. Moving along to the waters edge Inari kept a good distance from Cyrus, despondently mending his wounded pride. The one time, the one time, he had attempted to do something nice and it had blown up in his face. Well, see if he’d ever do something nice for another again. Ungrateful brat.
Ungracefully Inari plopped himself on the ground, head resting lazily on front paws which dipped slightly in cooling water. Watching Cyrus from a ways off tending to himself and listening to the consistent hum of the stream, Inari’s eyes began to droop, his mind in a state somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. Really, he could go his whole life without another such ‘adventure’ and he’d be perfectly content.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:09 pm
At last, Cyrus made it to the stream and began to clean his wounds without hesitation. He didn't even flinch as the water stung and gushed against his fresh and dirtied wounds. Luckily for him, he was a quick healer, and with his attitude and lifestyle he was injured all of the time, so these few little scratches meant nothing to him.
He stood there in the water for awhile before glancing over his shoulder to Inari's weary figure, in between sleep and awareness. Part of him grinned at this, for all of the tricks he could play while Inari was in this defenseless state, or the things he could say or do that the Prince would not recall due to his fuzzy, slumbering mind.
Cyrus then hopped out of the streambed, shaking off the excess water from his dark pelt. He slowly approached Inari, trying to decide what to do to him. As he stared at him in a captivated gaze, eyes narrowed and that awful grin on his face he felt an awkward feeling creeping up from his inside- it felt as if it were devouring him entirely. From that point, he stared at Inari quizzically. He must have had a royal Seer or something cast some weird spell on him that was making Cyrus feel this way- that must be it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:06 pm
A low, albeit lazy growl rumbled through Inari. He could practically feel Cyrus’ mind churning with nasty little thoughts of pranks. With more than a little force and stubborn pride Inari pulled himself to his feet, turning to face Cyrus full on.
He was slightly put off by the lack of menacing grin expected to be placed carefully across Cyrus’ muzzle. That he knew how to deal with- in fact had a back up of retorts at his beck and call. So he was more than a bit cautious of the pure look of puzzlement that had seemed to snatch up all of Cyrus’ expression.
Inclining his head slightly towards Cyrus, Inari held the others flame colored eyes, falling back on years of drilled etiquette. “Well... As fun as this little ‘adventure’ has been I should be seeing myself back now. A… pleasure meeting you.” He found himself almost trapped by those eyes, even as he took a step in the direction opposite from his companion.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:42 pm
Cyrus scowled, narrowing his intimidating eyes at Inari as he made to leave. "You don't really think you can leave that easy, do you Prince?" The Ulaya took a step toward Inari, but something suddenly clicked inside of his head. He smirked, retracting his foot back to its original place, acting as though he had only done so for Inari's reaction.
"Not really.. I've 'ad about as much as I c'n stand of you, Prince. See you around."
Cyrus then brushed again and past him, giving his tail a flick in Inari's face as he went by and strode into the forest.
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