Kizuka yawned and waited patiently for the sun to go down. After sleeping through the day, she was ready for the night to come on. The pack was getting further away from her, she just knew it, and if she delayed any longer than she absolutely had to she would lose it completely. Already the trail was dull, her nose leading her in strange directions, yet she pursued their shadows diligently. If they moved only at night, as she had learned from following them closely before losing them, then she simply had to run faster to close the distance. It would take a while, but eventually she would catch them.Opening her eyes, she sensed that it was dark enough for her to open her eyes and not be pained by the light. Purple streak the sky and she leaped from the shadow of the rock she had been sheltering against. It was time to run! And run she did. As fast as her paws could carry her. The phantom moved silently, eyes focused, and never took her mind from her goal.
So she didn’t really see the rocks in her path, trusting her feet to find ways over them. When she tripped, then, she could only blame her shadow for not warning her feet in time. She fell hard and stayed still, a cloud of dust around her. Dizzy, she dared not move until the world stopped spinning and the pain in her stomach faded.
Eisheth didn't much like to travel by night very often... but she would, if she found herself completely out in the open, with no real shelter in sight. Usually, she wouldn't go all night long, just enough to find somewhere relatively safe to lay up. Which was more or less what she was doing now.
Coming over a little rise, she saw something running up ahead, and blinked, head tilting. Then whatever it was went down, quite suddenly and violently, it looked like. The cheetah yelped a little and darted toward the still form - caution thrown to the winds. She was a healer by nature and trade... and couldn't just leave someone lying out here. "Are you all right?" she called out.
Kizuka pushed herself up to her paws and drew in a deep breath. She was still dizzy, but she was not hurt beyond a bruise under her fur. She was shaky, though, the fall having been so sudden and violent that it had scared her more than hurt. She whimpered to herself for a little while, trying to think of what to do, but then remembered her quest. She stood, trying to steady her trembling paws, and looked around. The trail was still before her.
Then a voice came to her ears and she ducked down. Looking behind her, ears back, she noticed something coming toward her. The Wild Dog waited for it to approach, surprised it could see her. She supposed the cheetah was meant to help her, from her fall, because there was no other reason why she would be able to see her. The shadows allowed it, so Kizuka needed to reply.
“I’m…” she thought for a long time for the right word, “fine…”
Eisheth kind of skidded to a stop close to the other - able to see now that it -was- a Wild Dog, not even really breathing hard. Cheetahs were made for such sprinting, after all. "Are you sure?" she asked, sounding concerned. "That looked like a pretty nasty fall."
A moment of hesitation. "And... I am something of a healer, if you're hurt anywhere."
“It… hurt…” she said slowly, standing up and then sitting down. She had been crouching, but now she was a bit more comfortable. She didn’t hear anything mean or threatening in the cheetah’s voice, and so took her at her word. She nodded, her eyes smiling though her expression remained impassive. “Thank you… I hurt my stomach, but… uh.”
She couldn’t think of how to phrase it. Growing up alone, hidden in the shadows, the only dialogue she picked up was the stuff she heard from others. She spoke rarely, though she was rather lucid inside her head, and her sentences always came out a bit jumbled and slow. She had to consider her phrases.
“I’m okay, though. I think it’s okay…” she nodded, then looked at the cheetah with slight curiosity in her yellow eyes, “I’m Kizuka. Are you out at… night a lot? Like me…”
Eisheth smiled reassuringly at the other, knowing some canines were nervous around the larger felines just... out of instinct. She was trying her best not to be threatening, though... only wanting to help. "Not very often, if I can help it. I was just searching for a place to rest tonight. But I don't mind the night, really."
Tilting head, she offered quietly, "Would you like me to look at your stomach? Perhaps you scraped it up a bit."
“Oh, I see,” Kizuka said, disappointed. She was so lonely, it would have been nice to find another shadow walker, though she supposed she had little chance of that. Those that came out at night were not the same as she was, anyway. They were free to move in the light or the dark, while she remained in the shadows, and shunned the sun. There would be no chance of her finding someone else like that, unless they were in that pack of wild dogs. It reminded her that she needed to continue on her hunt.
Though… her stomach did hurt.
Not much for acting like a dog, she went about presenting her stomach slowly. She couldn’t figure out how to do it, however, for a long time. Eventually she lowered herself and rolled onto her back, looking down across her chest and stomach at the cheetah, through her legs.
“I can’t see… it… anything…”
