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 Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:59 am
Dawn found the Pure pacing back and forth down along a small dirt path which she had doubtless created over the course of the night. She would walk a few paces, turn around to do the same in the opposite direction and then repeated the process, over and over again. Tifu was trying desperately to punt her brain out of second gear, and yet all she could see reflected upon the blank canvas of her mind was her long mental mantra of 'oh no's, flashing repeatedly.
Things were definitely Not Good. And there was no one to blame for it but herself, she was sure of it.
It was all her fault. All of it.
In a vague display of frustration that seemed almost entirely out of character with her, the lioness stopped in her tracks, sat on her haunches and tossed her head up to the sky, "ARRRrRrRRrgdfgdfgsd~!!" the sound she produced was somewhere between a frustrated growl and a whine, one of her paws coming up to cover her eyes from the light the sun was starting to project. She hadn't gotten one wink of sleep all night. Or the previous day, for that matter, really.
She had been too busy avoiding him.
It wasn't his fault though; it was all her fault. All of it. Just hers.
It had all started pretty innocently, she swore! At first, she had just been curious. After the stampede, and their small conversation following the danger, the Pure had found her eyes straying to him whenever he was within sight. Of course, they rarely spent time actually together, but that didn't mean they weren't often time within the same area. After all, they were meant to 'work together', for the Pure 'helped' the warleader; they were expected to be found in the same area.
Her watching him had gone mostly unnoticed at first (at least... she thought it had gone mostly unnoticed? With him, she couldn't really tell). But then he had started to meet her glance, no doubt either spooked or confused she had been observing him so intently.
The ordeal had reached a point that Takatifu could no longer bear. Whenever their eyes met now (which was way more often than she cared to admit and oh God this was wrong, wrong wroooooong), she swore her stomach dropped to her feet in a way she couldn't even begin to understand. She was sure that had she actually had the ability to blush (or rather, if her pelt hadn't served as an excellent barrier), she would have. It was right about then that the Pure had realised (with no small amount of vague horror, because oh god it was WRONG and she was BAD and ohnoohnoohnoohCRAP) that she was attracted to him.
Her solution had been to hightail it out of there; her squeak, upon realisation would have been hilarious, as would have the way she turned around and simply ran for it, however, Tifu could see no mirth in the situation whatsoever. Tell truth, avoiding him hadn't been helping much either, because now she was exhausted and still screwed, because she couldn't stop thinking about it.
Crapcrapcraaaaaaaaaaaap.
Gods, she was so screwed.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:22 am
Dawn finds the Warleader pacing back and forth within his lair, along a path that has been worn down by night after night of such pacing. The time he has alone in his den is his time, a small sanctuary within which he can think, talk to himself, and not have to hide his true nature. And while his little midnight meeting with the Queen a few nights ago --has it been such a short time, truly?-- went far more smoothly than he could ever have dreamed... he is still pacing, still restless.
She's been avoiding him. Or rather, they've both been avoiding him. And while Sakata had always intended to give Jinichongo a few days to mull it over (time to think, time to try desperately to find a way out of the trap he has sprung about her, time to realize that he is right) he had not anticipated Takatifu's sudden withdrawal.
Why now? What has happened to change things in this short time? One day she is rescuing him from near-certain death, and then it seems as though the next... she is nowhere to be found.
But no, that's not how it happened, now that he thinks on it. As he makes his way out of his den, blank mask slipping into place to hide his true nature, the Warleader glances over the pride to see if he can spy her bright coat. Not here. But a flash of blue catches his gaze... Muhali?! That must it. That would explain the suddenly intense stares that the Pure has been casting his way, and now her disappearance.
Unfortunately for Takatifu, Sakata is a resourceful lion. And he has made a point of learning the habits of the more important pride members... so he knows of the few safe places she retreats to. After checking in with the Veterans to send a few patrols out along the eastern border, he lopes off towards the nearest of those places now.
"ARRRrRrRRrgdfgdfgsd~!!"
Dark ears perk forward at the distant sound, and he adjusts his direction accordingly - not the nearest, but the small valley nestled between a couple of gently-rolling foothills. Sakata covers the ground quickly, making no attempt to be stealthy, and soon enough he crests the hill. If Tifu were to look up now (assuming that she heard not-so-subtle noises he made as crashed through the underbrush) she'd see the object of her fears silhouetted against the early morning sky.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:40 am
The spirits were laughing at her. She was sure of it. She could practically hear the morning breeze laughing her, for god's sake (not that she didn't deserve it though, in all honesty, she was acting like an idiot), "I hope you're amused," she seemed to be talking to no one in particular, or perhaps something or someone only she could see, "Because I'm most certainly not finding the mirth in this," as if to answer her immediately, the breeze picked up a notch, making the Pure grimace.
Tell truth, she hadn't heard his approach, for she had been too busy whimpering inside her own mind to really notice. However, that small sixth sense that told people someone was watching them forced her head to look up, her eyes catching his (or she thought they did; technically all she could see was his silhouette against the dawning sun). Instantly, the Pure stiffened and froze. She could have sworn her stomach did that horribly unsettling flip back into her feet and for a moment she seemed to be trying to judge her surroundings out of the corner of an eye in an attempt to find a liable escape route.
Crap oh crap oh CRAP.
Her mind chanted the mantra again because now he was there and he had found her and she couldn't really possibly bolt away from him without insulting him, "Uuuuh..." her mouth hung open as she tried to kick her mind into some vague sort of order, "Sakata!" she had settled for squeaking his name; it seemed to be the only thing she could say at the moment. If anything, she looked horribly flustered. Or nervous. It was hard to tell, however, it was obvious it wasn't real 'fear' or disgust; in fact, it bordered the opposite, even as she took a step back away from him.
Takatifu was considering finding a hole and burying herself there till the day of her sacrifice. Gods, she was so screwed.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:50 am
He frowns, listening from above as she speaks to herself --no, to the spirits-- and waits for the Pure to notice him. He's about to kick a rock to announce himself when she suddenly looks up, capturing his gaze and... flinching? What the hell is going on here? Now she's backing away, obviously nervous, her body language obscure, uncertain.
Teetering between concern, confusion, and anger, the Warleader stalks down the slope towards her. For now he is still regarding her with the same impassive mask that he uses when he is with the pride, although his eyes betray the emotions warring within him.
"What the hell is going on here?" He asks, mirroring his earlier thoughts for lack of a better question to pose. As Sakata draws nearer she can see that the scrapes he'd endured during their recent escapade are healing nicely, and even in the midst of this bizarre situation he finds himself raking her form with his gaze, to see if she has taken proper care of her own wounds.
On the heels of his recent success with the Queen, Sakata decides to try a similar tactic to get some truth out of Tifu. Just when she thinks that he must be about to stop, to give her some personal space... he continues to advance. Looking over her, pressing forward, forcing the smaller lioness to either back against a nearby tree, or suffer his increased proximity.
"I think you owe me an explanation, Takatifu, and I'm not leaving until I have one."
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:08 am
Oh God, too close, too close, too ********, goddamned close.
As he neared her, the Pure stepped back; for every two of his steps forward, she was only managing to take one back though, and soon enough she was cornered against the tree behind her. She was still debating whether or not she should risk turning around and running for it because he was just so god damn close and it really wasn't doing much to help her thought process. In fact, her train of thought had derailed rather ungracefully and had crashed directly into a mountain as soon as he'd bound down from the other hill top.
Why was he looking at her like that? And gosh, maybe she really should turn around and leave because this was wrong, wrong, wrong and she was going to diiiiiiie (her stomach was not really feeling any better with him so close - which probably meant she was going to die prematurely, yup) and and and- "Time out, time out! Time out!" she squeaked, as if this were some sort of game she could pause by just saying that.
Sadly... he wasn't really listening to her because soon enough, he had pressed himself towards her and the Pure felt her mind go absolutely blank. She didn't really hear what he said (something about an explanation?), and so was unable to answer him. At least... not with words, because her body, quite literally, betrayed her at that instant. The smaller lioness, rather than remaining put, pushed herself forward against him, closing her eyes to breathe in his scent.
Of course, as soon as she realised what she was doing (which took her longer than it should have, in all honesty), she reeled back against the tree with renewed nervousness, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she looked horribly guilty, awkward and flustered, all at the same time. Not for the first time in the past few days, Takatifu gave thanks for her pelt and the fact it was concealing her blush. Mostly. She hoped, anyhow, not that the cat wasn't out of the bag now though.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:56 am
She's afraid, he realizes. But there's something else, not just fear. What is it? His eyes narrow as he advances, scenting the air to capture any hints he can as to the cause for her mysterious behaviour. Time out? He mouthes the strange phrase, tilting his head to the side, and then he remembers - cubtalk, games.
Perhaps it is this association with childhood games and foolishness that leads him to mis-read the situation for so long, or perhaps it is his own unfamiliarity with the strange nature of the female mind (his past mate has been dead for how many seasons now?) but Sakata is utterly confounded by these strange circumstances. "Time ou--?" he begins to ask, and then suddenly huffs a surprised breath when she brushes against him. Startled by the unexpected contact, he raises his head up sharply and sputters.
"W-what? What the hell is going on?" Sakata repeats himself, dancing a little to the side (but not moving away), watching the irrational lioness react (he can still feel her against his fur), and trying to rationalize this entire situation (why is he still so close to her). Confused by his own racing mind, he chooses instead to focus on Tifu's actions, Tifu's words.
He can deal with his own demons later.
"Sorry? What? Why?" And he moves forward to offer assistance, gazing down at her in concern, unaware that he's likely making the problem even worse through his actions.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:20 am
He was doing it again.
And still the stupid tree wasn't letting her go anywhere. Not that she wasn't trying though, for her body was so pressed up against the trunk that Tifu had managed to memorise all the little cracks and valleys in the bark.
She was gaping quite openly at him, though as he pulled back towards her, she felt her breath hitch, "I-I-I...I-I," she wasn't really able to go further than that though, her mind, which hadn't ever been all that... rational to begin with, was quite literally out of second gear and into overdrive.
Technically, she had two choices. She could either pull away from him, or... push into him, and though she was somehow managing the former, the later was winning in her mind, "Noooooo," she half wailed, half whined, and then, she snapped, the stress breaking the dam that had been holding everything in, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! Well I did, but that's not the point! I'm not supossed to like you! Oh god, it's wrong and I'm SO SORRY and y-you..." the words came out in a rushed burst of air that was quite literally showing just how worked up she was, but then again, stress and the fact she'd not had a wink of sleep in the past two days were playing a decisive factor in all of this, "YOU ARE TOO CLOSE!!" she finally squeaked at him, "DAMNIT! STUPID TREE! Oh god, why YOU? Why not anyone else? It had to be you! And it's so wrooooong, and I'm so bad but I can't stop thinking about it and she's going to kill me! If don't die HERE because my stomach's doing that... that THING!" she was obviously spent after the tirade which she'd been keeping in for the past... how many days now, "I'm so SORRY! I didn't me-" she cut herself off, because she couldn't say that; how could she say she didn't mean it? She DID mean it.
Her paws came up to cover her eyes, as if blocking his image would make things better, "I'm soooo sorry, please don't hate me!" yet... she wasn't pulling away. If anything, subconsciously, she'd drawn nearer, and she couldn't help it.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:33 am
Give him some prey to hunt or an enemy to vanquish, and Sakata will easily deal with either problem. Even disputes between members of the pride, or entertaining the cubs while a Minder goes to grab a meal - these are also tasks he can manage. But this... he is completely, absolutely, 100% not equipped to deal with this.
Any attempt at a facade to conceal his emotions has been completely destroyed by the frantic babbling of the lioness before him. Her words run together in his mind, becoming a seamless mass, mingling with his own confusion.
If anyone has been watching (which, thankfully, they are not) it would be amusing to see just how quickly Sakata manages to scramble away from the Pure, his body responding to her squeaks before he's even processed what she just said. But now she's following him, pressing nearer, and he's so confused and ohspiritswhatisevenhappening. "Wait wait. Waitwaitwait. SLOW DOWN!" He stammers, trying to regain some sense of order. But he's right here and she's right there and oh, oh wait, is she touching him again?
Determined to calm things down, he closes his eyes and chuffs heavily, steadying himself both in body and in mind. She thinks something is wrong. What is wrong? What did she do - did she have a vision? Her stomach? Who's going to kill her? How DARE anyone threaten her? Why would he... "Why would I hate you?" Eyes still closed, he continues to replay the words and events as they have occurred, trying to focus his thoughts and make some sense of things.
To further complicate matters, it has been an awfully long time since his mate joined the spirits. And Sakata is becoming painfully aware of that.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:51 am
And then.... he pulled away.
Slightly, anyhow. However, it dawned on her quite swiftly that while that was the right thing for him to do, she did not like that. There was nothing she could do to hold back the mumbled moan-like whine of protest when he drew away.
Unconsciously, Tifu moved closer before she halted herself and dug her feet into the ground, tossing her head back in an attempt to look at the sky. The wide, clear, spacious, CALM blue sky. Sadly, not seeing him was not helping matters much, because his scent was still very much there, reminding her of his presence, and she was still painfully aware of the comforting heat he gave off and this was all so very wrong. Another moaned whine drifted out of her, however, his pulling away from her had managed to calm her down (either that, or her previous flood of words had been enough to get at least part of the weight off her back).
"I really, really, like you," she managed at least, though she kept her eyes on the sky, "I mean like.... I really, really like you," she went as far as digging her claws into the ground, "And not just in a... uhhh..." gosh, was there still time to just crawl into a hole and die? "I'm soooooo sorry," she lowered her head again and fidgeted in place, looking very much like it was taking all of her will power not to move forward because honestly, he was not making this easier on her, "I-I ... uhm... I thought avoiding you would make it go away, but it's NOT andIhaven'tsleptanyandyousmellreallygood..." she trailed off into mumbles, her eyes looking away from him, still looking horribly guilty, flustered and restless to move.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:13 am
Oh, s**t.
Ohs**tohs**tohs**t.
What the ******** is he supposed to do NOW? Now, when he might have finally made some headway with the Queen after so much time spent plotting and surviving. Now, when his plans are so close to fruition. Now, when... he needs the support of the Pure most of all. Now, when having the spirits behind him is most important.
Somewhere, deep inside, the cold and rational part of his mind is balancing the pros and cons, calculating the odds of discovery (and the cost) versus the benefits of indulgence. Somewhere, deep inside, he's making the decision to step back, to walk away, to remind the Pure of her duty, his duty to the pride. Somewhere, deep inside, the cold and rational part of his mind is screaming out at Sakata for being an idiot when he instead steps forward, running his muzzle along Takatifu's face, snuffling at her neck.
Not quite ready to trust himself with words (or at least many of them) the Warleader rumbles deep in his chest, offering his strength for her to lean on. "It's okay," he mumbles.
But somewhere deep inside, he knows that it isn't okay. It isn't okay at all.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:12 pm
Silence met her words, and her eyes shifted up to him and away from repeatedly, as if not quite daring to remain on his form for long. Oh god, she was such a big idiot. She should've kept her big mouth shut, because now he was not only going to hate her for being such a god damned idiot, but he was going to-
Her thought process halted again when instead of moving away from her, she felt him move forward, "S-Sakata?" she had no idea what she was questioning, because this was what she wanted. Her whole body screamed at her to just take what was being offered, because otherwise she was going to regret it later. Deep down in her mind and heart though, she was afraid she would regret taking the that step forward. She was going to regret it so, so bad, because this was wrong, and she shouldn't be feeling this... this... whatever it was that she was feeling and he had a mate and said mate was going to have her killed.
It was too bad that sanity was fighting a losing battle though, which soon enough became clear when she could hold herself back no longer and she pressed herself up against him. She was, indeed, taking the offer to lean on him, rubbing her head against his mane and under his chin and this was wrong, wrong, wrong. It felt right at the moment though. That was apparently all she needed, "No it's not," she told him, "I'm such an idiot, I'm so, so sorry," her words and her actions were different though it was clear what she wanted.
She just hoped... she wasn't going to regret this, because he was offering to open the door for her and she could no longer linger in the doorway once the offer was made.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:29 pm
This is one of those things that he just can't think about. If he thinks too hard, he'll hate himself for giving into weakness, giving into instinct. But until recently... Sakata had never realized just how alone he is. It's a necessity, that's what he always tells himself. But it's hard, so hard.
Having the Pure in on the secret helped. There was something comforting about being able to trust someone, to share things, to not have to be fake around her. Is it the fear of losing that which made him step forward, is making him tread down this path? Or is it something else entirely? But no, no. That is also something he can't dwell on. For now he has one important thing to do - comfort the Pure.
The rest can wait.
"It will be okay," he corrects, then, smiling. Later. Later, when they can deal with the aftermath. Later, when they can figure out how to go forward from here. For now... "You should get some sleep." Sakata frowns down at her, just now noticing how harried and stressed the smaller female appeared. "I'll watch over you."
...and already, deep inside, the cold and calculating part of his mind is trying to think of ways that he can turn this situation to his advantage. Deep inside, he considers possible avenues of escape if they are caught. Deep inside, he begins to make plans for every possible outcome that he can fathom.
But right now, the Warleader is directing his Pure towards a soft patch of grass, where she can rest and he can watch over her.
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:02 pm
She allowed him to lead her away; what else could she do? Still, despite the fact she'd 'gotten' what she 'wanted', it was wrong, and deep down she knew as much.
The spirits were laughing at her.
Takatifu was sure of it. They were laughing, and would remain amused for quite some time. There was no way on earth this could last and even as she padded along side him, her head low and lids drooping over her eyes, making her stumble, the Pure was deeply aware of the fact. She was allowing herself to push rational thought down into the corner of her mind in favour of finally indulging in the contact her body had apparently been craving all this time, "If you say so..." despite the fact her words were hushed, she believed him. Or rather, believed in his ability to make things better, as he promised.
She was just... so sleepy. When they reached the patch of grass, the lioness curled up against his side, her small form almost hidden from view by his larger, darker frame. There, she finally allowed herself to fall asleep, content in the notion that he was watching over her. He would make things better.
The laughter that only she seemed able to hear... was still ringing in her ears, even as she drifted off to sleep. She could only hope it had no malicious intent.
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