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 Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:53 am
 Wyrsa was not happy. Not just because she was a skinwalker and thus prone to hatred over happiness. Not just because she was out here, in the desert, a bit before sunset with the reddish light beating down on her black hide and fur.
Wyrsa was pissed because of the bulge hanging beneath her. She was pregnant. And it was ALL. TLOC'S. FAULT.
This was what came of letting that Kalona believe he had power over her. Well, he was WRONG, and she was going to bring it home to him. So here she was, out in the desert, looking for that godsbedamned Tlocatl, following her memory towards the teepee. Which, if she reached that first, would be the first to feel her wrath.
Lucky for Tloc's "family," she saw him atop the next dune. The mare paused and, with a bit of concentration, she shrank into a small, black, pregnant coyote, which slipped from shadow to shadow towards the stallion.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:04 pm
Tlocatl had been avoiding leaving the desert since that fateful night. He remembered how much she had hated the sun, as well as disliked just the sparsity of it. Not to mention, there were less places to hide. But the desert was his sanctuary, and his place to stay away from her. He had lied, he actually thought of Wyrsa often.
He had made it back to the teepee, and again Sanika had administered to his wounds with his decrepid mother watching over. He didn't know what was worse, to have such horrible aches and pains or to have Nagual tending to his needs (and that he even had needs!). The arid air kept the herbal lotions on his shredded wing from dripping off. Where spring raged out there, it was still hot and welcoming in the desert.
Tlocatl looked at the falling sun with a sigh. Not long ago, he would have avoided the sun at all costs, but that was her domain - and one strategy to guarantee they did not cross paths was to switch over his routine...sleep at night (or some of night) and be around during the day (well, some of the day). It wasn't something he liked, but it was just another safe-guard.
The kalona stood, the lightest of breeze flowing through his silky mane and the flames at his feet flickering contently. He watched the sun set, and as the horizon became painted, Tlocatl watched the stars sprout from the darkening sky.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:13 pm
The coyote waited just out of sight as Wyrsa considered her options. She could jump in and attack...but then she wouldn't be able to get a good look at his face. And she really did want to see what he thought.
She shifted back to her own form, banishing the pelt completely. It was far too hot here to want the extra weight of the fur on her back. And perhaps, the mare's expression twisted into something that might be called a smile, perhaps he was so weak and soft that he'd think it was the old Wyrsa, the Soquili she'd been when the first met.
The skinwalker climbed to the top of the dune in Tloc's blind spot and positioned herself: a calm, statue of a mare, sunlight revealing colors in her scales that the darkness never saw. Only her yellow eyes hinted that there might be something dangerous about her.
"Lost in thought, are we?" she asked, breaking the silence and revealing her presence.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:36 pm
Tlocatl didn't flinch. He had sensed her coming, for despite her stealthy approach and never seeing her the kalona could feel the difference. Tloc was well in-sync with the desert, this was his home, and if she thought to come here unannounced, well, she'd find that was near to impossible to do.
He didn't tear his gaze away, just stayed where he was and watched that distance horizon. "As if I'd waste my time in thought," Tloc snorted.
There was another pause, "What are you doing here, Wyrsa? Surely you realize this is the desert."
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:41 pm
The mare's eyes narrowed, annoyed with his lack of surprise. But she wouldn't attack...yet. She sniffed in response. "More like incapable of thought, I'm sure."
Wyrsa tossed her short mane. "Surely I know where you live," she warned, threat coloring the remark. She was having a hard time keeping cool, keeping calm. With a great deal of effort, she brought herself back under control and started stalking towards Tloc, intending to circle him.
"Surely," she continued, "I'd come all this way to see the father of my children," the skinwalker spat the last part as she came into his field of vision, fury clouding her own.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:47 pm
Tlocatl looked like he was bored, but inside he was fighting the urge to run, just run away. Only the shift of a hoof - the one she stomped on that night way back when - alluded to his discomfort. "And surely you wouldn't be stupid enough to go there... that pesky human knows how to take down dangerous game."
He was about to ignore her when the last bit got his attention. His eyes flickered, and for one instant, all he saw was the old Wyrsa - no coyote, no blood. He didn't even have time to appreciate the light on her scales.
Kalona eyes didn't last on her face long, and went towards that extended belly. He didn't know many things, but she sure looked.... "Your pregnant?" he whispered, in shock and disbelief.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:53 pm
"Obviously," she snorted. "And obviously I have no reason to find your grubby little teepee home and your pathetic mother and her human friend, seeing as I've found you." The mare continued her deliberate motions until she was squarely in front of Tloc.
"Yes," she reiterated, "I'm pregnant. And," she began towards him, taking one step for each word, "it's ALL. YOUR. FAULT." The skinwalker snarled, baring her fangs at the stallion who'd done this to her. It didn't matter that she'd enjoyed it just as much. All that mattered was that, if it hadn't been for him, she wouldn't be pregnant!
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:59 pm
Tlocatl sniffed, he wouldn't take offense from her. Wyrsa was just a rabid dog now, she didn't know what she was saying. When the mare was right in front of him, he looked down his nose at her.
"MY fault?" Tloc sneered. "How is it ALL MY fault? First of all, I don't know who else you spent your time with. Second, as I recall, you were an equal partner in that tryst!"
"And..." Tloc chuckled carefully. He was definately afraid of her, but if she meant to kill him he wouldn't be able to stop her nor was he going to show weakness - not now or ever again.
His lip curled up as he leaned in to whisper softly, "That's a good look for you."
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:04 pm
Wyrsa nipped him as a warning. "You should be proud," she hissed. "I haven't spent such quality time with anyone else." The mare ignored the comment on her share of that night.
"But still...if it weren't for you, this wouldn't have happened," she warned. Flatterer, he was. But, she couldn't permit him any more liberties. Not after the last time. She bit him on the nose.
"What do you care what's a good look for me? I am no possession of yours!" With that thought her pelt seemed to flow up out of her body to cover her once more, bringing an immediate savagery and danger to the moment that it had been missing before.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:13 pm
Tloc threw his head up at first in exasperation, "Oh woe is me for being the object of your attention!" His head was back down when he said, "and lucky is the stallion who never got to know YOU so well!" He wasn't sure how true his words might have felt, one day - awhile ago - he would never had meant such things, but now? He didn't know.
And then, his nose was captive. At least Tloc was learning, he didn't try to rip it out of her grip, that would just make things worse. "If it wasn't for YOU, it wouldn't have happened. I am not going to be held responsible for everything when I was not the only party involved." He felt that she should blame herself too, but like he had a chance of making her see that.
Tloc uncurled his sore wing, the one not broken - merely almost destroyed to shreds - and tried to fwap Wyrsa on the side, to try and distract her from his now bloody nose.
"As if I EVER wanted you!" the stallion snarled, his tail swishing back and forth in aggitation. As her pelt returned, it hit home the reminder that this was not the Wyrsa he knew. No, this Wyrsa was one of those pathetic Skinwalkers. Dangerous on the ground, though she was. If only he could fly, he would still have the upper hand.
Tloc took a step back and shook himself as if a fly were bugging him. "Ah yes..." he mumbled, still pretending that the pelt didn't bother him.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:20 pm
The mare noted his ineffectual attempt to distract her with the wing she'd shredded when they'd last met. She was pleased to see that it was still a fair amount of time before he would be in the air again. She'd kept her promise.
"Now it's you who lies," she whispered. Her breath stank of her last meal, an unfortunate snake who'd tried to bite her as she traversed the desert. "If you hadn't wanted me, why didn't you kill me months ago when you had the chance?" Unspoken was the fact that it was a chance he'd never have again.
Wyrsa released Tloc's nose and began circling him, stalking around as if he were her next victim.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:32 pm
Tloc refused to give in to the fear that was nibbling at his mind; fought against the shivers that threatened his body. His nose released, he rubbed it against his chest. The sensitive area stung, but he wanted to get some of that blood off.
He lifted his head slowly, ears perked to every small change in sound. An ear followed Wyrsa as she circled, and he stood straight ahead, waiting for the executionar or the savior...no one could be sure.
"Unlike you I have no intention of killing needlessly. I kill to eat, to live.... not for the joy of killing." Tloc turned his head and looked at her squarely. "You're worse than a human."
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:37 pm
"Worse than a human, am I?" she repeated, considering it. Well, with that wimpy human back at the teepee, she could see how he'd gotten that mistaken impression.
"Why Tlocatl," she answered, still deliberately pacing around him, "it's because of a human that I am what I am today." It had taken her a while to realize that it was because of whatever that old woman had rubbed into her wound that she was now a Skinwalker, but once she'd had the thought, she'd known it was the truth. Thus the human, and all her kind, had been added to Wyrsa's list of those she hated.
And Tloc, little did he know, topped that list, as he was the one Wyrsa knew best.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:40 pm
Tlocatl's eyebrow lifted. That was news to him. "A human did this to you?" His voice took on a sarcastic tone, "And here I thought it was because you had too fun of a night with some other soquili. Wouldn't have been surprised."
He thought that over, "And, how, pray tell, did a human get close enough to do this to you?" Yet another reason not to trust humans. Only Sanika did he go to for anything...and that because he knew she didn't dare do anything to him.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:42 pm
Wyrsa snorted. "And would it have been so difficult for a human to get near me, before?" she retorted, fully aware of how weak and pathetic she'd been then. And far too trusting. Now, she knew better. Humans couldn't be trusted. Not even that wimpy one whose teepee Tloc called home.
The mare continued circling the stallion, crossing in front of him a second time.
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