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 Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:48 pm
 Koka felt the desert calling to her. She was traveling north through a land of golden grass and sparse trees. There was a chill in the night, yet to her the air was warm, too warm and too inviting. Her ears flicked in annoyance.
Lions living in these lands learned to take their good fortune for granted. They expected hunting to be easy, they looked forward to the rains a few times a year, but when Koka was a girl food was scarce, she appreciated every meal, and rain was a magical, almost once in a lifetime occurrence that filled her with awe and fear. Out there you had to earn your right to survive.
Life on the savannah was too easy for her. Koka longed to feel truly alive again. And so, after saying a final goodbye to her mother and sister, Koka began her journey for the sands where she was born, where her siblings were buried, and she left without looking back.
She had been walking for many nights now and was just beginning to feel tired. She paused to stretch and hopped onto a large black stone, its surface as cool as the face of the full moon, and lay down indulgently. The moonlight reflected off her white pelt, giving her an otherworldly glow. She set her chin on her paws and heaved a sigh, gazing up at the stars. They looked so beautiful tonight.
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:16 pm
He was out of that blasted jungle.
Though he was walking strangely from the chill his paws felt, he stepped lightly, as if skipping with happiness. A crooked grin stretched across his face and his eyes were bright and wild with a sense of triumph. It was as if he had beaten the jungle. Yes, the jungle was alive. It was a thing. It was a creature. And it had sucked Sellion in with its big...Evil...Sucking lips, and had held him there for a long time. But now he was out. He was free; free to--
...What was he doing again?
Before he had time to remember, he forgot about remembering what he had supposedly forgotten.
And so the black and pink cheetah continued on his jaunty way, feet kicking up strangely with each step and tail stretching out stiffly behind him. A giggle burst forth from his mouth every now and again, startling the cheetah with the sudden sound because most of the time he was unaware that it was he who had just laughed.
The moon was a great, big, bright white hole in the sky and it made the grass and trees and rocks glow eerily. Demons liked to roam about on moon-lit nights. Sellion knew this. Sellion knew it well. He had seen...Yes, yes, he had seen things...Things in the night that were frightening and shocking and romping about on twelve legs with lashing tails and gnawing teeth. Sellion knew many things crept about at night, waiting and searching and watching for something to get--
"EYAHHARAHHA~" Sellion screamed suddenly and screeched to a halt, gaping in horror at a pale white glowing thing that lounged not to far away from him. He silenced himself quickly, sucking in a breath to calm himself.
It was a GHOST.
OH GODS.
OH HELL.
...Hmm, it was kind of pretty...
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:09 pm
Koka bolted upright, feeling an unnatural chill run down her spine. There was some sort of… monster looking at her. She stood on top of the stone as waves of moonlight rippled from shoulder to tail and her ears flattened against her skull, behind her flashing golden eyes. Did this beast roam the grasslands after dark, picking off stray cubs? Was it some kind of evil god? An illusion? “What do you want?” she demanded, teeth bared.
No. No… it was merely a cheetah. An audaciously colored cheetah, at that. When she realized this, Koka wondered why she mistook him for a monster in the first place. That seemed a very silly mistake for a lioness her age. Then again most of the savannah creatures still looked alien to her.
She tried to remember what her mother told her about cheetahs. Swift, cunning, good eye sight, yet frail enough to be easily extinguished by an adult lion or lioness if one became a nuisance. This cowardly cheetah was no threat to her. Her muscles relaxed slightly.
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Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:14 pm
When the ghostly figure stood upright, Sellion jumped, even more startled than when he first saw the thing. But he relaxed shortly the more his eyes traveled over the white form. Captivated, he took a small step closer, neck stretching out at length to get a better look at whatever it was he was staring at.
The moonlight shone down on the grass, casting a grayscale over everything and creating an eerie glow around the figure in the distance. Sellion took another step, then another, until he was walking slowly closer to the 'ghost'.
...Ah. Wait. That's what it was. It was a ghost.
...
IT WAS A GHOST.
Sellion reeled backwards a bit, tripping over his own tail and landing with a thump onto his backside. He then proceeded to roll around on his back, gasping for breath and gaping up at the sky as if he were being strangled. Abruptly, he stopped. He stood, shook the dust from his coat, and glowered at the 'ghost' through his curly, disheveled- looking "mane". He was much closer to the thing than he had been, and from where he was, the thing resembled a lion. Lions and ghosts, when thought of together in Sellion's mind, were akin to demons. And it was common knowledge (well, not really) that Sellion had a fine admiration for demons...
Hm, it spoke. A question? What had it said? He didn't speak ghost...
...Wait, yes he did. OF COURRRRSE he did! Sellion was an amazing, superb, superior, magnificent being. He could do anything. He was powerful...But he dare not speak to a ghost...He was much too frightened. Even then, though he didn't realize it, he was trembling head to paw, eyes bulging with awe.
"I'm..." And that was all he said before he was once again consumed with the idea that the figure in front of him was most likely a ghost.
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:44 pm
As her sparkling fur bristled from head to tail only one thought penetrated her mind. There is something wrong with him. The cheetah stumbled over himself as if his body was under the control of an evil spirit. He reminded her of animals that lost their way in the desert, wandering for days with little food and no water until their brains literally boiled in the heat, their minds tricked into believing that the sand had turned into thousands of stinging scorpions. They rolled violently down the dunes, staining the sand red, biting and clawing their flesh as if their body was not their own and screaming with all their breath until their cracked throats bled and thirsted no more.
Tension knotted in her shoulders and neck and Koka shook herself to relieve it as a growl rumbled in her chest. She took two steps forward, black claws gleaming on the edge of the stone. Her crimson tipped tail whipped around like the legs of a bucking antelope. Certainly this… this thing could do her no harm, but its presence disgusted her. She both pitied and hated it.
In spite of that, she did not want to be too hasty. Perhaps she frightened him. “Are you confused in the head or merely afraid?” she snarled in a voice that did nothing to relieve fear.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:14 am
Sellion twitched his eye at the growling he heard. And the snarl that followed didn't help to better the situation, either, and only made him twitch more. But there was a slight grin on the cheetah's face. He was fascinated (and scared out of his wits). There, in front of him, was surely a ghost. Ghosts were of the next life...They were the essence of something which had lived, but was no longer alive. If they were from the next life, there was a possibility that this one was from hell...And hell was where demons lurked.
A delightful shudder rolled down the cheetah's back at the thought.
Suddenly feeling more at ease, as if he were with his "own kind", the cheetah adopted a suave expression and bowed his head a bit, to show respect.
"It is a lovely morning, fair-white thing..." he said, disregarding the fact that it was night. And despite the "ghost" obviously resembling a lion, Sellion referred to it as a "thing", because something dead no longer had a use for living names. At least, in Sellion's mind. He mulled over her question, trying to decide on a suitable reply.
"I am...Sellion." he answered, completely satisfied at answering the ghost's question with such complete precision.
Going back to his previous musings: This ghost, since it was from the next life and therefore possibly from hell, might have seen his beloved dead sister, Chana. The black and pink cheetah fidgeted where he stood, eyes sweeping the floor in nervousness as he attempted to sum up the courage to ask a question to the ghost. He failed in this attempt, and so he waited for the ghost to say something else before continuing. Maybe by the time she gave him a reply, he would feel a bit more courageous...
...NOT THAT HE WAS A COWARD...Nonono, he...Was...Er, brave. HE WAS A BRAVE DEMON.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:07 pm
It was Sellion. Was it trying flattery now? Its words had as much affect as a dead rodent with a half-wilted flower tucked behind its ear. Koka wondered if she should take her leave.
No, leaving would only attract its attention. Besides, what had she to fear from this unsettling thing? In the prime of youth this loathsome creature could not even take care of its own coat. She imagined its jetty fur crawling with ticks and other parasites. Her hatred urged her to attack, to waste her energy on an unworthy opponent. She could easily kill it, that was doubtless, but one bite from its filthy fangs might infect her with some kind of disease. Koka flexed her claws. The hollow tips clicked against the stone accompanied by another low growl. She shuddered at the thought of losing her mind to a fever like this creature.
“I am not a thing,” Koka said to the thing. “But you are obviously ill. Stay away from me.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:37 am
For a moment, Sellion could not understand the words that the lion--err, the ghost spoke. It had a defiant, stern tone; something perhaps with a hint of warning to it...But he couldn't understand why it had such a tone, and something about not understanding that caused him to not understand the meaning of the "ghost's" words.
"...Y-...Yes," Sellion said hesitantly, blindly agreeing. His expression was uncertain as he stared into the bright, golden eyes of the glowing, white thing in front of him. She was tall, up on that rock. Her eyes seemed to bleed with red, and her mouth was black with the ashes of hell. Sellion was now absolutely certain that this was a demon ghost before him. And so, he sucked in a breath, held it in his chest a moment, and then asked the ghost a question. Ghosts were wise, especially demon ghosts. Surely this one would have an answer for him; the answer he sought endlessly day-to-day, always unable to find an answer.
"OH, GREAT GHOST--" he wheezed, forgetting he was holding his breath. This resulted in a terrible coughing fit that lasted several moments. When Sellion recovered, he began again. "...Have you...Seen...My sister, Chana?" he asked. After speaking those words, a great weight was lifted from the cheetah. He felt more free to speak at his leisure.
"She is a black and green cheetah. Her eyes glow yellow with hate, and she--She was taken by hellfire." he explained speedily, stepping closer to the "ghost" with every word. "I am sure Chana is a demon. I am sure. I am sure." he repeated, eyes wide and face stern with certainty. "Have you seen her, Ghost?" he whispered, legs trembling.
"Have you seen my sister, Chana the demon?!"
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Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:48 pm
Koka cringed at the melodramatic display of insanity. As the thing crawled to the foot of the stone her shoulder muscles coiled. A low rumble started in the back of her throat. She did not even attempt to take in the creature’s words. To do so would bend her mind to the limits of rational logic. Irrational paranoid fool!
Now the thing defied her. It crawled even closer (her tail stiffened) and then even closer than that (even her whiskers stood on end). It trembled, it coughed, and it would not - “SHUT UP!”
She lashed out, claws drawn and slammed her heavy paw into the thing’s head. The force of the blow alone knocked the thing onto its side. Her claws dug in, drawing short bloody lines across the thing’s maw.
Koka let out a bellowing roar, using the power of her voice to keep it pinned as she leapt from the stone, twisting around so that both her eyes locked on the thing as she backed away. She took several steps back and paused. “If you follow me,” she growled, “I will kill you and leave your acursed bones for the buzzards. Go! Now!”
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:02 am
The sudden amazing blow to the side of his face did indeed throw Sellion to the ground. And there he lay for a few moments, stiff and unmoving as though he had lost consciousness. But the loud roar that followed the blow to his face shocked the bleeding cheetah onto his feet.
Demons were strong.
Demons got angry if they were tested.
Startled at this sudden realization, Sellion locked eyes with the "ghost", somehow unable to look away. He was sucked into the look of murderous and warning intent; sucked into the amber orbs of demonic hatred. Her words were true, Sellion knew that. He knew he would die if he stayed.
Heart leaping to his throat as he felt hot, oozing blood stream down his face and seep into his mouth, Sellion let out a frightened cry, spun around, and raced away from the female with every ounce of his cheetah speed. He ran, clouds of dusty sand ripping up behind him, and hot wind stinging the deep wounds in his maw. Once happy at being out of the jungle, Sellion now wished he was back there. Never again would he venture into the desert.
The desert was full of vicious demons.
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