|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:04 pm
 Marakl.
He bounded across the stretch of open, flat land until he reached the verge of the cliff that dipped into grassland that expanded out for miles around. His paws met with the very edge, sending pebbles clattering down the sides, their landing softened by the grass.
He drew up his dark head proudly, two large ears swivelling forwards. His eyes - bright purple - sought and found what he had been looking for and his whole black-pelted body rippled with feverish excitement. He turned his head back and a long line of drool - hanging from his lower jaw - swung from the motion.
"Kallie!" He blurted. "KALLIE! There they are!" And he turned back to marvel at such a wondrous site.
Vultures!!!
They circled lazy just a short distance away, their heads tipped, claws extended. In moments they would land, showing them the way, guiding them to the rotting flesh that had Marakl's insides gurgling hungrily.
Oh how he loved vultures! Kalpana, panting, came trotting up alongside him. She was sister of Marakl's alpha and so the hyena looked up to her as pack member, maybe even second in command.
The fact that she was the least authorative creature you could ever find, made the strange relationship between the two absoloutely laughable.
"Where? Where?" Her tongue lolled and then she was distracted by something up in the sky. However, it wasn't the vultures she was looking at. It was the clouds.
"Oooo~ You're right! What pretty clouds! They look like a bird, don't they, wings outstretched there and everything!!"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:14 pm
Suddenly, the vultures scattered, with terrified caws. Nya cackled loudly, surprised by the amount of fun she was having, especially considering it was still somewhat light. The sun was beginning to fall beneath the horizon, but usually the wild dog was a somewhat nocturnal creature - not waking until it was dark, and sleeping as it began to get light again. But she'd been awoken early today by the noisy caws of the vultures, and so had decided to get payback. Hence the scattering and scared caws. Once she was sure they were gone, she turned to their victim - a half-eaten carcass. Approaching it, she sniffed it gently, tilting her head with wide eyes as she surveyed it, looking for clues as to what it had once been. It didn't take her long to spot familiar shapes in the bone structure, identifying it as a wildebeest. She'd done this many times - starting as a cub, with mice and bugs, and building up to larger creatures, such as this. She'd even found a dead elephant carcass the other day, and deduced that it had died a painful death. It had seemed to have been attacked by a group of predators - presumably lions, by the size of the bite marks - but managed t escape. However, it's injuries had caused it to perish a few days later. Sniffing the carcass, she wrinkled her nose. It was a simple death, just from a predator. Probably a full one, merely bored. And so, Nya lowered her head, taking a greedy bite. Waste not, want not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:21 pm
Wha? What was going on? Why were they scattering? Was that...a laugh? A hyena, then, maybe? His heart gave a little flip and he didn't waste much time in skidding down the cliffside in an attempt to find the carcass without the help of the vultures.
"Come on, Kallie. We're not looking for clouds, remember? We're looking for FOOD!" His tongue lolled and his eyes - wild with hunger - turned back to face the direction his legs were taking him. Spending his whole life in his small pack - consisting of the alpha wild dog, Marzi and the mope face lion, Atreyu, Marakl had never spent much time around his own kind. He was always eager to meet another hyena. Perhaps today would be one of those days.
He bounded into the grass and headed off, steaming along. His head had lowered, his ears up, his tail wagging.
And then a second later he burst into the scene and his momentum came to a sudden halt. His nostrils flared and then he cackled back. "You're no hyena!" And then he realised she was eating the food. Oh no! Did that mean they'd lost out on dinner, now?
His stomach grumpled and his ears dropped.
A moment later and Kalpana kareened into him, sending herself rolling backwards into the grass. There was a moment of flailing and then she righted herself, looking sheepish.
Why was she always so clumsy?
Well...maybe she should get her head out of the clouds once in a while and actually pay attention?
"Oh! Hello!" She chirped, standing and shoving against Marakl. "You didn't tell me we had company!" She accused, as if this was some secret he had been keeping from her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:27 pm
Nya didn't jump up in surprise when a hyena and wild dog suddenly appeared, crashing into each other. She'd grown out of such things long ago, and not much scared her anymore. After all, she worked with dead things - you had to have a pretty calm mind for things like that. Tearing a large chunk of meat from the carcass, she chewed on it, savouring the taste as she watched the two with wide, curious eyes.
The wild dog greeted her, and Nya swallowed, continuing to watch them. It was several moment before she realized she should probably talk back - it had been a while since she'd met anyone out here. "Oh, uh...hi?" she muttered, not entirely sure how to reply. Ugh, such trouble...she'd been looking forwards to a day - or night, as it was - of relaxation. Wrinkling her nose absently, she yawned. "Who're you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:31 pm
Marakl's greeting came as a sudden increase in his tail-wag and the lolling of a tongue. His ears twisted and turned as Kalpana and the stranger spoke and then he interrupted, bounding forwards. He set a dark paw on the carcass and threw her a look he considered his 'puppy-face' look.
It had worked when he'd been a baby, back when he'd been trying to get Atreyu to hunt for him. He hadn't tried it recently, though. Was he out of touch.
"We're hungry!" He replied in answer to her question. "Real hungry."
Kalpana, giggling at her friend's face, gave him a shove with her paw. "I'm Kalpana. Rainbow Seeker. Dreamer. Bright Hearted." She beamed and wagged her tail at super-speed. "And this is my friend, Marakl. He's hungry." She added, as if the female hadn't got the idea already.
"Who're you? You have sunshine on your nose!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:35 pm
Nya watched the hyena with a frown. What was he...doing with his face? It was a look that she wasn't sure what to make of it, and as such ignored it, frowning at his reply. ...So? She didn't really care if they were hungry, although she supposed they should. Why did they tell her they were hungry, when they could just eat? It wasn't like it was her kill - hadn't they seen the vultures? So instead she ignored him, turning to Kalpana with what she hoped was a smile.
"I'm Nyamana," she answered simply, trying to smile again. She noticed both their tails wagging, and began to wag hers a little, not wanting to feel left out, "I'm a healer."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:42 pm
Why wasn't she falling for puppy eyes, dammit!?!? His ears drooped further, he widened his eyes as far as they would go. Then, just to add a little something extra, he whined, long and low in his throat.
"mmrrrr..."
"Nyamana! That's a pretty name! Do you know, my Daddy, he named me after his imaginary friend! Isn't that the neatest thing you've ever heard?" She blinked her vibrant green eyes, grinning happily. Then she thought of her father and wondered where he was right now.
Was he missing her?
"Healer? What's a....healer?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:45 pm
Why was he whining? Nya shot him a disgusted look - ugh, hyenas were weird, she'd now decided. What did he want!? She turned back to Kal, ears drooping a little as she tilted her head, feigning interest in the female's words. This...what had she done to deserve this? What was she even going on about? An imaginary friend? Her father? Nya snorted without realizing - father. She'd never had one of them. Only her mum, who'd wanted her to be a soldier. Not likely - she was on her own now, a healer.
"Uh, sure," she quickly agreed with Kal, glancing boredly off to the side before back at the wild dog with a frown. She didn't know what a healer was? But...wasn't it obvious!? "Someone who...heals? Y'know, like, someone who makes you better when you hurt yourself."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:53 pm
"My tummy hurts!" Marakl blurted suddenly, giving up on his whining. Dammit, he hated growing up. If he'd been little she would have totally 'awww-ed' and given him hugs and let him have all the food. Being an adult sucked big time!!
"Heal my tummy? I need food!"
"Healing is like...magic, then?" Kalpana's eyes widened and she made an 'oooooh' sound, clearly very impressed with this. Being a healer was much better than being a rainbow chaser! Or an adventurer, or any of those things she had attempted to be in her lifetime.
"Can you teach me?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:57 pm
Really - what had she done to deserve this? Nya didn't know whether she believed in gods or any divine, heavenly beings, but right now she was praying to them to be spared from anymore of this uncomfortable awkwardness. Growling irritably, she turned on the hyena, eyes dark as she snapped loudly, "Well eat, then! You don't need me give you permission, do you!?"
She flashed her teeth slightly, growling, before she turned back to Kalpana with a snort or annoyance. Magic? She growled sofftly again, "It's nothing like magic. Magic is spells and stuff. healing's just knowing everything."
Teach her? NO WAY! "Uh...no. I'm not good enough to be a teacher."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:11 pm
Wait? He could...eat? She wouldn't snap at him or anything even though she'd clearly found it first? Well...he supposed he could argue that he and Kal had found it first, since they had been tracking those vultures and all...
But who cared about that now? He had fooooooood!
Without needing to wait for another word, he dived onto the carcass, making short work of stripping flesh from bone.
"Erhum, erlicious." He mumbled to himself, mouth full of food.
"Knowing everything? Wow!" Kalpana breathed. She seemed to have forgotten her hunger now, intent on hearing more about this gifted female.
"You must be the most...intelligent wild dog to ever have lived!" She bounced eaderly, casting a glance to Marakl - who seemed less than interested.
"Maybe someday you might be good enough to be a teacher, do you think? I'd love to learn! It'd be so cool!" She put on a thoughtful face. "I wish I had a skill. I have a good imagination, you know. Nothing else, though."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:16 am
Ugh, that was kind of...disgusting. And just what she'd expect a hyena to be like, frankly. She'd heard they were greedy, ill-mannered creatures, as was made apparently by the male practically diving into the carcass, not caring should he get messy. Nya always had to be careful - her pale coat meant she had to eat delicately or else she'd get messy. It didn't matter too much - she often got messy whislt working, and had to go wask off in a river. But at least then it was because she'd been doing something interesting, or helping someone, rather than just being greedy.
Knowing everything? ...Wait, she hadn't meant to say that. "No, I meant knowing everything about injuries and stuff. No-one knows everything." Moron. She really wished she could've added it on the end, but that was rude. And that wasn't nice.
"No...No, I'm really not," Nya sighed, shaking her head, "Maybe you could go find a teacher? I'm sure there are plenty around?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:00 pm
He swallowed down the mouthful of food and paused, belching. Wowie, this food was amazing! In a single bound he was standing on what remained of the carcass, tugging at one of the ribs exposed until it snapped from its place and sent him tumbling backwards. After he moved back towards them, flopped down on his belly and began to crunch his way through bone to reach the marrow inside.
His mouth was wet with saliva and slobber dirtied his paws and the grass.
His face held a look of pure contentement.
Kalpana, used to the hyena's poor eating habits, didn't even blink an eye. She wasn't exactly ladylike when it came to eating either. She'd rather wolf it down as fast as she could so she could get on adventuring.
"Oh. Okay. Well...if I happen across a teacher that's fine, but I don't want to go searching for one. That's not as much fun as searching for rainbows, you know? Have you ever seen a rainbow? Aren't they the most beeeaaaauuutiful things you've ever seeeeen?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:14 am
Nya couldn't help the look of disgust on her face now, as the hyena made a complete mess of the carcass. Manners, really. They didn't cost a thing. It was disgusting, and that was that. Turning her head away, not wanting to watch anymore, she turned to Kalpana, sighing in an irritated fashion. Couldn't they just leave her alone? "No, I haven't. And I don't really care if I do or not. I need to go - I've got to, uh, meet someone."
She began off, pausing slightly, turning back with a growl already anticipating the female's next question, "And no, you can't come."
And then she was off, racing across the savannah. Anywhere was better than there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:22 am
Marakl barely spared the wild dog a glance as she made off, leaving the food behind. With a tail wag he lifted his mouth, drool dripping, and cast his friend a grin. "Look, she left the food! Wanna help me drag it back to Marzi?"
He was already standing, casting aside the broken bone and grabbing hold of the carcass by the leg - or what was left of it anyway.
With a shrug, Kalpana moved to join him, casting a glance over her shoulder at where the wild dog had gone.
Poor girl, she mused silently to herself, she's never seen a rainbow.
And, with that, she took her place at the hyena's side and began to drag the food back home.
/fin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
