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 Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:18 pm
 The underground was no life for a cheetah. Even the Anansi had named them as the wind-chasers. There was an old tale concerning the cheetahs that the Anansi often told. Taban, believing himself to have been a lion at the time, didn't think much of it. But as he grew older, his legs longer, and his form more and more slender the underground network of the Anansi, even with its grand halls, seemed to grow smaller and smaller around him.
His mother, bless her soul, had told him of the story of how once Cheetahs had been as large and powerful as the lion with a roar that broke even the thunder. However, the wind grew jealous of the roar an stole it away from the cheetah, throwing it over the land during storms to shake the earth in her wake. Enraged by this trickery and the theft, the first of the cheetahs gave chaise, seeking his roar back. As he ran his body grew longer and longer, he shed his mighty muscles for longer legs, his mane fell off to streamline his body. His claws no longer pulled into his paws, instead they gripped the ground to send the cheetah flying after the wind. Cheetah grew so fast that soon wind began to fear for her stolen roar and turned on the cheetah. As cheetah ran, she stole his wind. The longer cheetah ran, the less wind he had within his lungs.
No longer a lion. Not a big nor small cat. The cheetah stood alone.
Taban glared hard into the wind as he shot over the night savanah, leaving a trail of loose grass in his wake. He ran face first into the wind, taking full lung-fulls of the wind as he ripped over the landscape. He wasn't the fastest of cheetahs, but he sought to change that. He had been a prince to the Anansi, his mane had never grown in. The musty dampness of the underworld was not for him. His heart sought the open plains and the wind. Powerful shoulders threw him forward over and over again, tail whipping around behind him. A muscular body refined through the cliffs and caverns of the Anansi's caves.
Soon, as true of the stories, the air was gone from his lungs and the 'prince' came to a trotting stop, lowering his proud neck to pant. Slow, sharp gasps to refill his lungs. Soon enough...
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:33 am
A sudden gust had blown through, the cool air that traveled from the sea a heralding call for what was soon to come. Though normally this initial gust was usually overlooked to be nothing by the mortals of the lands, there were a few that seemed to know just what it might mean. Wind never knew herself just who would know, unless she had visited them before in their short mortal lives.
Another gust, but one that swirled in the same spot for a moment. It was warm, soft, and barely shifted the grasses around it. A flash of light, bright, but not blinding, and from this glowing swirl, a pale golden paw emerged. It paused for a moment before the goddess continued her emergence, her face soon peeking out of the glow to see just whom was around. With a twitch of her ear, the golden swirl of wind was banished, the light leaving one last gift of a glimmering shine off of her back.
To the Gods, she was Wind. To the mortals, she was Mdhamana'kinyamkela. The guaridan wind spirit.
Her emerald eyes spotted something quite close to her, closer then she had meant to land. She offered a small nod to the cheetah, acknowledging that his presence was known, and taken note of. "I apologize," she whispered, letting one small golden swirl of wind play with her mane. "I did not realize that I would emerge so close to another." She awaited for a moment, to see if he would acept her apology, before she would find out just why she was pulled into this area.
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:45 pm
Taban's eyes closed slowly at the breeze, panting hard into the welcome air. His lungs burned and ached from the strain of his sprint but the wind always seemed to ease it, swirling through his broad chest and restoring the life in him once more. The flash of light caught him off-guard.
He turned quickly, the tipped mantle lifting up his back. His guard slowly melted away into awe, perhaps the very first time in his life that such a feeling stirred in him. He'd heard stories of Anansi, the great god of Stories and trickery but he'd never encountered him, never felt inspired.
He slowly looked around himself, he rarely traveled alone. It wasn't a wise move. Most especially for a creature as frail as a cheetah. Fubar and Lucia were both back where they'd stopped for the night. A thousand questions rushed through his mind but he forced himself to a calm, even more so at the lioness' words.
"There...is no need for an apology, lady." He said simply. His voice, while slightly winded, was smooth and confidant. A practiced calm. "To what do I owe the honor?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 7:33 pm
The golden goddess' mane brushed itself back away from her face, the white ribbons that normally danced around her limbs resting still. She had finished looking around the pair of them before turning her attention back to the cheetah in front of her. He must be why.
"Honor?" she questioned, a light laugh following. "There is no honor, I am merely here because the winds pulled me here." A true fact. The goddess, many generations ago, had just decided to let the wind take her anywhere. If she stopped somewhere, then she would figure out why. Simple as that. So far, so good.
She raised her oversized wings up, giving them the stretching that they needed to not cramp up. She might not use them too often, but it still would of been a pain for them to cramp up while she was out and about. Mana folded them close to her sides, the tips just brushing the ground as she sad herself down on her hind legs, letting herself relax with this cheetah.
"Is there a chance though, that I may catch your name?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:18 pm
Taban felt as if the air had once more been forced out of his chest. A goddess... Had he finally accomplished the long-sought goal of his ancestors? Perhaps it was only a story, perhaps not. He quickly reminded himself of the existance of logic, mentally kicking himself for having lost his dignity in his stunned awe. Goddess or not, an undignified beast appeared weak, idle, unimportant. He was none of that, or so he was convinced.
He corrected his posture quickly, raising his head and throwing his shoulders back once more. "I am Taban." He announced, his voice finally returning to the practiced calm and dignified tone it had always been, "Former prince of the Anansi pride, former servant of the god Anansi, presently a tactition, and a hunter of the wind's blessings."
He dipped his head slowly, showing the proper respect for a creature of this lioness' status. "Have I at last come to face the wind itself? Or am I mistaken?" Perhaps a sign... a divine sign. A cheetah was not a beast to worship a god who demanded his children lurk in dark holes deprived of the air and open landscape of the overworld.
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:22 pm
The goddess' ears flicked forward when she heard the name of the trickster god. Interesting, he was still around after all this time? She noted it away in her mind, but did not show any outwardly signs about it. It was nothing major, just something to take note of, just in case she would ever need that information again.
"Taban," she repeated, giving him a nod. "A pleasure." She truely meant it, but her mind was filing through all the information that it held, whatever she could remember about this pride of Anansi. There was not much, though, and she waved it off with a mental strug. That was something she could worry about later.
"Face with wind? Whatever so do you mean? I am Wind, yes, if that is what you are asking." Mana was genuinely confused on what he was asking. Was there a task he was set out to do, something she was related to? Or was it another thing that she couldn't even begin to guess?
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 2:40 am
"There is a story in my former pride...", He began slowly, there was a hint of pleasure in the way he begun the small explanation. Storytelling was something he had always prided himself on, one of the few hobbies he lost himself in, "Long ago when the cheetah was mighty, he had the most powerful of all roars. The sky shook and the ground trembled. The legend goes that wind grew jealous of the cheetah's roar and sought it for itself, stealing it away from the cheetah's very lungs."
He chuckled a bit, perhaps it was silly to be telling the story to the wind itself, if that's who she truly was. There was no doubt in his mind that she was a goddess, he'd never in his life encountered a winged creature with the form of a lion. "The cheetah, enraged gave a chaise that would run through his bloodline. He lost his mane in exchange for spots, his legs grew longer, claws harder, and in sacrifice for speed, he lost his power."
The end of his tail flicked a bit, "To keep us from ever catching her, the wind would pull the air from our lungs hot into the chaise, exhausting us so we could never re-claim the roar we once had. So the story goes. However, you do not seem the type I had always pictured from the stories. An amusing tale none the less. But true enough in a sense. A cheetah is forever cursed to chaise the wind."
True enough in many aspects. It had become almost torture to live in the underground, feeling the breeze only through vents and when they surfaced to hunt. "I do hope you can forgive my rambling, it would be rude of me not to have answered your question."
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:26 pm
Mdhamana'kinyamkela listened quietly to his story, giving him the moment to say all that there was he wanted to describe of the story. A small smile crept upon the lioness' lips as she lifted her head up, ears perked, her emerald eyes studying the cheetah before her. She took an extra moment to let the moment between them linger on, letting the silence grow thick before breaking it. She did not mean it to disturb him, but she was merely gathering up her words as they played in her mind.
"The truth in old folk tales get lost between the generations, as some here and there will take out what they consider uninteresting bits and putting in what they wish. Though even through this corruption, there are still parts of the stories that remain true."
She left her comment to what he said at that, and would only elaborate on what he wished to know when he asked it. Just because she was a warm, kind goddess, didn't mean that she would give everything to the mortals she came across. There were some things that needed to be asked for directly. Or even earned. And if he asked the wrong questions? SHe would still answer them, truthfully. Goddess she may be, she was not perfect when she was young.
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:54 am
"Stories all have messages that carry through despite the loss of their original roots I'll admit." He chuckled, walking himself around the goddess. Fascinating...wings on a lion. A golden pelt. He'd never imagined that this would be how the wind would look, but then again it made quite a lot of sense. Nothing could be more lovely than the wind itself.
"Though it leads me to wonder just why the story demands that cheetahs such as myself give chaise to the wind. A hidden meaning? Perhaps we were never meant to follow the earth or the webs of the trickster." He mused out loud, coming to a stop once more. "Tell me then, what use could the wind have for one who spends his life ever chasing her?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 1:12 pm
"Chasing it? I can see why you would claim that the cheetahs of the land chase the wind," she started, her eyes sparlking with thought. A new way of looking at the idea was ticking away in her head, and she had to word it carefully, for she did not want to offend the mortal before her. The many, many years she had been alive had mellowed her out, and everything that she crossed paths with was something to be respected, as long as they were respectful back.
"You could also say, to a point, that while you are running, you are also creating the wind. Don't you feel it through your coat? The pull that the air attempts on you, to hold you back? I believe that is something more of the soft air than of the brisk feeling of a strong wind." She smiled, if lightly, and waited to see his own opinion on her interpretation of what he had said.
(lol I'm only... a month late. XD; )
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:14 pm
Taban laughed lightly. "Ah I must disagree, m'lady. When I run I feel the wind along my fur, the kiss of the air around me as I fly along the ground. I am no fool, mortals possess no supernatural abilities beyond what we are given. The lion his roar, the cheetah his feet, the hyenas their teeth. But none can control the elements. If we did then I assure you, the battles between prides and packs would be much more interesting."
He circled her, etching her image to his memory. "If I may be so bold...I might ask for a token from m'lady, so that I may prove that there was a cheetah that finally caught up to the wind. At the very least, it would make a fantastic story for the next of my line if such a thing is meant to be."
(( XD No worries. RL happens ))
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Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:20 pm
Mana smiled. Well, he disagreed, but it was in a very humble way, and made her feel comforted. At least he was kind, and graceful in the way he spoke. So polite and proper, sometimes she wondered what happened to the youth of the recent times. Were parents really so ignorant as the proper ways of manners?
But those thoughts weren't needed here. She nodded her head. "Certainly! Would a feather do well enough for a traveler like you?" She ruffled her wings, stretching one around her side so she could take a good long at her feathers. She gingerly plucked one out, not too large for a cheetah, but one that could be seen quite easily, and offered it to the cheetah.
"Everyone should believe that you've caught the wind," she added on, her smile turning into a grin.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:11 am
The cheetah accepted the feather with a dip of his head and took a moment to set it into the strange stone necklace that hung from around his slender neck. "Ah a feather is more than appropriate for any that seek to catch the wind- be them a bird or an earth-bound creature."
He lowered his paw back to the ground and took a moment to admire the gift.
"Many thanks, lady." He glanced back to her once more and corrected his posture. "I hope to catch you again once more, perhaps at that time I will learn your name." He had already asked for a token, and received it. It was hardly good manners to press a second favor from a goddess. Had she been a normal lioness, he would have expected a normal introduction. But this way- he had a reason to continue his game.
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Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:43 am
The goddess laughed at his reply, her eyes dancing with joy as she looked upon him once more. "Well, perhaps you will. Though you do already know half of it, even if that is what the Gods normally call me," she teased. Her mortal name was just that; one that mortals called her. Either one worked in her mind, but to have her first name used in a casual sense would be awkward, even she would admit that.
"I await the time you catch me again, though perhaps it will be while you are running, and not after you have already lost your breath."
And with another flash, she let herself disappear. She really was waiting for the time she would come across the cheetah again, though.
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