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 Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:16 am
She knew just the stallion to get her one of those in short order, and she was going to see him right now. She hoped he was still up in his herb patch; if he wasn’t she was going to be rather annoyed at climbing up so far only to be disappointed. Still, if he was here she doubted she’d have any trouble persuading him to take her to the herd’s leader. As for the rest of her plan... well she wasn’t so sure about that. She’d work on it though; she was fairly sure that he wouldn’t be able to hold out against her advances forever, he was a young stallion after all and from what she knew he didn’t ‘keep company’ with anyone else. It would all work out in the end. She hoped.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:32 am
It had been a long and busy day, and as such he had spent the time since his last patient had departed dozing in the sun. He had only awoken when it had sunk almost out of sight, and he was feeling cold, stiff and grumpy. Not in the mood for the mare he saw when he began his decent towards his home cave. In the very last of the orange light of sunset, she was lovely to look at. Any minute now, however, she’d open her mouth and start teasing him about something or other. Usually he put up with it, because it kept his mind sharp. Right now though he was well aware that he was about as sharp as an elppa, and that no amount of teasing would wake his wit until he had a good long sleep in the relative warmth of his cave.
“Hello Sekhmet,” he sighed wearily before she could speak. “What do you want this evening? If it’s to annoy me, don’t start or I’ll shove you off the path, clear?”
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:06 am
Sekhmet chuckled and turned around, setting off back down the narrow path as Dahak drew level with her. “Long day hu?” she asked rhetorically. “Well, you needn’t worry because I’m not here to tease you this evening. I’m here to ask you a favor.” He didn’t respond right away; he just looked over at her expectantly. Sekhmet chuckled again. “You really are grouchy tonight, aren’t you? Well, fine, the favor I want from you is an introduction to the Queen. I’ve hung around here as an outsider for long enough; I think it’s time I joined the herd.”
She could start making real friends once she was officially accepted. Perhaps she could even see about getting herself a slave; Dahak might help her with that too. Anyone who was anyone, she gathered, had at least one slave of their own. She’d treat her’s well, in private they might even be friends. She quite liked that idea; having someone about to roll eyes over the tear-marked Jala with would be nice. Of course, it would be nice for her slave too; she could take it with her when she went to visit her family, give it a taste of the outside world... Though that might just be cruel thinking about it. Perhaps it would be best to leave it behind.
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 1:17 pm
Dahak paused for half a moment before nodding and continuing down the path. “Of course. If the queen isn’t too busy, we can see about that tomorrow. Then you can stop bothering me; you are a wearisome mare.” She wouldn’t of course, even if he had sincerely meant it she wouldn’t have. She liked being around him too much, or perhaps more to the point she liked teasing him too much. It was... it was a strange kind of teasing though. It seemed to him that all of it was in fun, since their first meeting at any rate. Whilst she might mean some of the cruel things she said to him, he didn’t think she meant him to be her comments. It was hard to be sure though; for someone who said as much as she did, Sekhmet gave away very little about herself and her intentions.
Well, other than her intentions to initiate some kind of a relationship with him, or at the very least to flirt shamelessly. Perhaps it was just a desire to be close to him for his status in the herd, but she didn’t seem like that sort of mare to him especially given how she talked to him most of the time. No, she wasn’t after social advancement or she’d be fawning all over him instead of insulting him... So what did she want? He hated it when he didn’t know what people wanted.
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:23 pm
The striped mare grinned in satisfaction and nodded her approval. “Tomorrow would be great; thanks Dahak.” Despite his grumpiness with her, he was being nice and cooperative. She did hoped that was a sign of things to some; callous though it sounded she didn’t want to wait too long before continuing with the next stage of her plan... But was it really a good idea? Was it a step too far? Would she be stuck being his mate?... Did she mind? Perhaps she would be satisfied to be with a stallion she could care for and respect, so long as it had been her choice not somebody else’s... Or perhaps not. If someone she really could fall in love with came into her life and she was already with Dahak, then might she be as trapped as her parents were. Perhaps-
“Hey, did you hear that?” Sekhmet came to a halt, casting around for the noise she was sure she’d hear a moment ago. Then it came again; a soft, pathetic mewling sound. “It’s coming from over here; come on!” With these words, the black mare stepped off the beaten path and set off across the uneven rocks off to the side. Whatever it was, it was a welcome distraction from her rather worrying train of thoughts.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:02 am
Dahak sighed deeply and followed after the mare; if she fell and broke her leg he wanted to be there to laugh at her for a while, and then to fix the damn fool. “I despise adventures after a long day,” he grumbled as they paused, waiting to hear the noise again. She didn’t answer him, of course, but then he was getting used to her ignoring him when he expressed displeasure. Just as he had been going to suggest they head back to the path and forget about it, the noise came again. This time it was much closer to them, and both Nequus moved forward once more. Before too long, they found the source.
It was a rit kitten, purple. It was lying in a crumpled heap at the bottom of a steep drop. No parents or siblings were in sight, and the thing looked to be hardly alive. Its injuries and the cold would finish it off before long... Dahak scowled and turned to Sekhmet. Just as he’d been expecting, she was glaring at him.
“What?” he growled. “I’ve used up almost all my magic, I need time to recover it. Why should I spend the last dregs on a rit when it might be needed to heal a Katilenuck?” He hated being utterly drained; it made his whole body feel uncomfortable for one, and for another he couldn’t stand the thought of not being able to save a fellow Jala if he arrived by their side while they still lived. Spending the last of his power on a mere rit was unthinkable.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:09 am
Sekhmet glared back at the other Nequus. “You’ll do it because I told you to,” she snapped. “Has nobody ever told you how this works?” she went on patronizingly. “If you want to get the girl, you have to impress her with your compassion, your willingness to do things that make her happy. Now, heal the Rit. You can keep it as a little messenger or spy or something useful like that.” She knew she wouldn’t be able to persuade him that the little creature’s life was worth as much as a Jala’s, but perhaps he’d do it anyway just to get her to stop teasing him, or indeed because he decided it would be useful to him.
“Come on,” she swatted his rump with her wing rather sharply, “I’ll owe you a favor.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:18 am
Dahak snorted crossly and shot Sekhmet another glare. “Don’t swat me, mare, or I’ll reconsider taking you to the Queen...” Damnit all, he did want to please her. She wasn’t like everyone else, she wouldn’t let him treat her as he pleased and still suck up to him. It would have been nice to say that he only wanted to please her because she was pretty and he wanted her but it was more than that. She was... well she was just different, different to any other mare he’d ever encounter in all likelihood. She was a bit weird, she was bold, she was intelligent and... Well probably other things too, annoying for one.
“Oh very well,” the Shaman muttered, “but don’t think this means I like you.” Half closing his eyes, Dahak took a deep breath and extended one wing towards the pathetic heap of fur. As he watched through slitted eyes, a pale blue light shone around the rit, and swirled with the winds that coiled about it. For a moment there was a vague impression of purple as the blue light of what must be his magic mixed with the red wrongness of injury. Then the winds died away, and there was just the blue light clinging to the places where the rit’s hurts had been. Then Dahak blinked, and the blue light was gone too. Well that had been new. Interesting.
Frowning again, he turned to Sekhmet. “Satisfied?”
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:31 am
Sekhmet watched the Rit stagger to its paws and look around in bewilderment. “Yea,” she said eventually, “I’m satisfied. Hey there Rit,” she took a few paced forward and lowered her head to be more or less on eye level with the young creature, “what’s your name? I’m Sekhmet, and that’s Dahak. If you’re lost, you can come along with us.”
It was a cute little thing; she was glad she’d heard it and been able to make Dahak heal it. It was nice that he did as she told him to, and despite his scowl she couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t as displeased as he was pretending. Whether that was because he was happy to have saved the Rit or because he was happy to have pleased her, however, she couldn’t quite be sure of. If she was asked to make a guess though, she would go with the latter.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:24 am
“I’m Amethyst miss... What just happened to me?”
The tall stallion sighed and shook his head. “I’m magic, I fixed you; can we get going now? It’s freezing.” As he turned away to head back to the path, Dahak spotted the little rit hopping up onto Sekhmet’s back. Well if it thought it would ever get away with doing that to him, it had another thing coming. “You can work for me from now on then Amethyst,” the Shaman said without turning his head. “I’m not sure what you’ll be doing yet, but I imagine it won’t be too taxing.” A rit wasn’t quite as useful as a shrila, but he had no doubt that some tasks could be found for the little thing; they were agile after all and surprisingly fast runners too.
“Sekhmet, you know where Virgil sleeps,” Dahak went on, “take Amethyst there if you would be so good, and then come to my cavern. It’s cold tonight; you can repay me that favor by keeping me warm.” There was one big advantage to having a mate; somebody to huddle up to on cold nights. He hoped his mother was doing alright out in the world all by herself, it was a nasty time of year almost anywhere.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:58 am
Hu... Well fine. Sekhmet snorted in amusement as Dahak stepped back onto the path and, after cantering a few paces, lofted lightly into the chilly evening air. “Well isn’t he a mister grumpy-feathers,” she commented to the Rit on her back. “Don’t worry though, he’s usually much more civil than that, it’s just me he likes to grouch at.” The kitten giggled, and Sekhmet smirked along with her young companion as she too returned to the path and set off in search of Virgil.
His request that she join him at his cave later was a little worrying given what she’d been thinking earlier on, but if she tried anything she trusted her ability to kick him in the face and make a swift exit. She didn’t think he would somehow though; perhaps he just wanted to grump at her some more, or perhaps he wanted to share her body heat through the chilly night. Perhaps he fancied making people talk about him a little more; how he did love his fame.
Still, she’d find out what he wanted soon enough. Hopefully she’d be able to occupy herself with teasing him enough not to worry about whether or not her plan was such a good idea after all. Deep down, the striped Jala realised with an internal sigh, she had already decided that it wasn’t, not until she was sure she wouldn’t be stuck as his mate if they did have foals together in any case. Perhaps she should ask him when she went to join him in his cave. It would be fun to freak him out.
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