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Hopefolly rolled 5 4-sided dice:
2, 3, 1, 4, 3
Total: 13 (5-20)
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 Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:06 pm
Some time had passed and Uss D'mzil had healed. More or less.
She didn't have the capacity, be it an emotional or mental sort, to fret over what had happened with Gunnar. Or the other one. What was his name again?
Had she even gotten his name?
Zilly wondered about that once, but only once. The world around her soon stopped existing. She ate thinking of going home; she drank thinking of going home. She walked merrily toward her destination thinking of nothing but that destination.
The lioness all but glowed in her waking hours and slept soundly in those that weren't. Her peace of mind was robbed from her, however, when a number of nights into her journey fate was not so kind.
Xi had screamed something to the extent of, "ALL of you are supposed to watch each other!"
Or maybe it was something more venomous than that. Zilly awoke in a petrified daze, certain of one thing if nothing else: Nym was dead and that made Mama very, very unhappy. She should have considered that possibility. Though, it made sense that she wouldn't. She had never been good at looking at things from more than one angle at a time, nor was she any good with change so abrupt.
And on top of all those other bad habits, she never quite grasped the world didn't wait for her to come to a decision.
Xi didn't want her back. She was too angry none of them had been there to die in place of her favorite.
Zilly didn't decide what to do, per say, because that would involve thinking. Taking into consideration what move to make after her mother hated her... the thoughts were unfathomable - the words ineffable. They made her terribly, terribly sad. She hated feeling sad.
Be it some supernatural force, some subconscious guidance or a less dramatic reason of 'just because', Zilly had found herself right back where her visions had started. Not empty handed, of course; she at least knew that she had annoyed Taraxa and she understood what was expected of someone in these scenarios.
Nanako brought her things when she was annoyed, that busybody old hag. Her method had worked, though, so Zilly had come to recognize it as the be-all end-all of how to bring about goodwill between one living thing to a next.
Zilly didn't roar or scream for Gunnar or 'the other one' when she got back on an unusually cold night. Just waited. With the wild dog limply on the ground beside her, she sat patiently, producing a sighing sound like the wind soughing through the woods.
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bipolar bee rolled 5 4-sided dice:
1, 1, 2, 4, 1
Total: 9 (5-20)
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 9:30 am
The night was cool, the air crisp. All was content. Taraxa had settled down with a heap of mint and a few fermented berries. He'd spent the past few hours using the stuff to drown his sorrows... and the headache that came and went thanks to that stupid lioness that had cracked her head against his. He'd had his wounds tended to but the headaches still came and went. Taraxa had to wonder if she'd wounded him permanently. He scowled to himself.
Woozily he rose to his feet and moved towards the outskirts of the pride. He had no intention of wandering too far. He was in a happy place and feeling no pain. Taraxa was known for his love of both mint and berries, and when he used one or the other he tended to do it to excess. Tonight was no different.
Peering out through the grass, he caught sight of a dark shadow. He was certain he could smell the scent of death, but who could it be? Alarmed, he tripped closer, eyes wide and claws unsheathed. Had someone slipped past the patrols? Who would be sitting just inside the borders of the pride with something dead?
As he drew closer, it all made sense.
"You," he hissed, eyes narrowed and slightly glazed.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:08 pm
Without thinking, Zilly lifted her back legs so she was standing instead of sitting. This way she'd be more braced if he decided to attack her before she was given the chance to explain. "What are you so mad about? I only did what you wanted."
This was going well so far.
Zilly quickly tried again, "I'm sorry I hit you in the face like that."
Not really, but it was what she felt she was supposed to say. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have even considered anything involving the word 'sorry' an option. Not out of a pride or ego. She just had never been sorry for anything she'd done, save for allowing her brother to die.
She could still hear Xi's voice from that dream: "You're SORRY?!"
Maybe he wouldn't be so willing to accept her apology either, but that was what the new pet was for.
"I brought you this thing," she explained, prodding the wild dog with her paw.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:35 pm
He had to be dreaming. He had to be dreaming. He shook his head back and forth at a vomit-inducing pace. The world blurred around him before it came back into focus. No, she was still there. Still there and with a dead wild dog at her feet. Still talking and making no sense whatsoever.
"So you are prepared to die tonight, then?" he slurred, staring at her blearily. Of course she would show up when he was utterly and completely blitzed, but he could feel that euphoric high rapidly leaving him. He mourned that euphoria. He mourned it deeply.
He also mourned the sanity he could feel slowly slipping away just by being in the same proximity as this lioness. Drifting away.
And she brought him a thing. A dead wild dog. How utterly sweet.
"Pffff," he hissed, "I already ate, and that thing looks well past edible. Now, fight back so I can kill you swiftly and be done with you once and for all." He hoped he could stand up straight.
He really wanted to smash her face in.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:00 pm
His commentary on the wild dog threw her for a loop. She wondered: did he really eat these things? They were a relatively knew and unfamiliar species to someone like her, a lioness who thought she knew in grand detail all about other lions and hyenas but nothing else. Frankly, even saying she knew about her own kind was a stretch. Weeks ago she thought there were two, maybe three prides.
"It's not for you to eat," she shot back, sounding offended about that of all things. (Nevermind the death threat.) "They're good for other stuff."
The canine so closely resembled a hyena they had to be fit to work as a servant if nothing else, Zilly thought. She nudged the corpse - unaware it was a corpse - and hissed between her teeth when it didn't move. She gave the body a harder shove.
Nothing.
"Hey!" the lioness shouted. "Get up! I didn't hit you that hard!"
But she had. She'd hit him very hard.
"I can get another one." She decided this without any mindfulness paid to the order of her only living company. Her next words were meant for him. "I'll fight you, but I'm not going to let you kill me. I really want to stay here with you."
She hadn't said it as if it were a request. Not a plea, either. Zilly said it like it was already a fact that she would be staying here, and with him no less. There was just no other place for her to go. She had to go somewhere.
Despite every trait she possessed that suggested her a desolate, wicked soul, Zilly could not imagine a life where she was truly alone. One could argue she had been alone for a while now, but she didn't see it that way; Xi had been with her in thought the entire time. Her mother served as a goal, a finish line. That was more than enough to keep her company in the past.
"I'm not going to lose this time. When I win you have to let me come with you, right?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:12 pm
If this had been their first meeting, Taraxa would've thought she was jesting with him. Oh, haha, pretending that wild dog isn't dead. You nearly fooled me!
However, after their previous meeting, Taraxa knew that she didn't realize that the wild dog was dead. Not just dead, but dead by her paw. He just couldn't figure it out, though. HOW had she survived this long? Living like this? In her own little world, one that didn't make sense to a normal lion. Not only had she survived, but she'd done pretty well by herself considering her massive size.
"I'm not going to let you in," he boasted. If looks could kill, it was safe to say that she'd be dead by now. Very dead.
"I guess you don't have to worry about coming with me. You won't beat me."
He hoped she wouldn't.
He was so blitzed.
With an unbecoming clumsiness he pounced, claws unsheathed.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:28 pm
She hurriedly sidestepped and avoided the tackle. Suffice to say, it was not because she had developed some astounding grace in her movement since the last time. He was just...
Just...
Just doing something weird?
Zilly's response to new things depended on the circumstances surrounding them. When her brother brought home a new hyena, she was disinterested; the new arrival hadn't collided at all with what she'd been focused on at the time. Her current attention was controlled by Taraxa, and since he was the one acting so strange, she found herself struck dumb. But not literally this time around. He wasn't going to hit her that way.
"Ugh!"
Smelling like that, he might not of had to land a hit to win.
Zilly had never picked up a scent so strong and burning. Yes, burning - it was burning her nose off her face. "You smell so bad! What is that?!"
Odd she should ask him while trying to pounce on him instead, but that was Zilly for you.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:34 pm
He stumbled forward with a grunt, turning to glare at her before she pounced. He was in no position to dodge her movement, and instead fell to the ground. Crumpled to the ground. He really would have to cut back on the mint and berries.
This was shaping up to be the worst day ever.
The worst challenge ever.
"Are you sure it isn't the rank corpse I'm rolling in?" Gross. He gracelessly tried to ram his paw into her nose. She was so ugly. He hated her face. He wanted to hurt her badly.
Of course, he'd spent a lot of time rolling in mint. That wasn't a terrible smell. It was a beautiful, relaxing smell. The scent of the corpse hadn't bothered her previously, so he had to wonder if the scent of mint had been clinging to his mane and face.
Why was she still here?!
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:43 pm
"I didn't know it was dead when I got it!" Not that she could have since 'it' wasn't dead until she'd 'got it', but that was beside the point. "Why-"
A paw was in her face.
A smelly paw was in her face.
Zilly backpedaled like a fish would flop back into the river. Gagged. Coughed. Scowled. She was still here because she wasn't going anywhere. But, the sooner this ended the better. Maybe afterward she could push him in a lake. Or a swamp.
She took in a deep, deeeep breath of air and held it. With a moment or so to spare, give or take depending on if the wind was knocked out of her, she again charged forward. Her claws swung precisely and skillfully for his shoulders, chest, wherever she could get.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:49 pm
Taraxa wasn't dodging her. He didn't have the physical capacity to do it. There was no way he could move fast enough to do that. He thudded into the ground with a groan, though he wrapped his arms tightly around her neck. He could feel her claws digging into his back, but maybe if he was lucky he could suffocate her in his mane.
That would make this day so much better.
He was already feeling weak and woozy, far too weak and woozy to keep on fighting her. Maybe he'd just take the hit and let her in to the pride. Gunnar could take care of her after that. It was his fault that she was here.
It was his fault that she kept coming back.
Taraxa was disgusted by the entire situation. He was a STORMBORN for crying out loud. And yet here he was, rolling around on the ground next to a very dead corpse with a very stupid lioness clawing the crap out of his back.
This so wasn't worth it.
"You win." He grunted, going limp. "YOU WIN." Louder, and with force. He just wanted her to go AWAY.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:00 pm
And she just wanted him to smell better, but neither were going to get what they wanted.
...On second thought.
Zilly shoved him off and stood up, rubbing persistently at her nose. She acted like she could knock the scent out of her nostrils if she just tried hard enough. "Good," she groused and raised her paws to him again.
This time, she didn't strike him, but instead set about to smearing the bleeding she had caused all over him in the hopes of covering that overwhelming smell. She'd go for as long as he let her, and even considered tearing open the would-have-been servant for more 'materials' if need be.
"You're fat," said the lioness in a matter-of-fact way. "It's probably because you eat disgusting things that smell bad. They probably make you fat."
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:06 pm
Taraxa groaned.
He tried to ignore her, he really did. Why wasn't she traipsing off in search of Gunnar? The one she loved? Presumably the only one she loved?
Annoyed now, Taraxa rose to his feet and swatted her away like an irritating little fly. He didn't mind that he was covered in blood, that was fine. At least he'd not seem like some weak little wimp when he returned to the pride with the newest and stupidest member of the pride.
"You're stupid," he grumbled, swatting at her again in case she didn't get the picture. "And fatter than I am." Zing. "Go find Gunnar and leave me alone now, female! I tire of you. I just want to go to sleep."
Really, that's all he wanted to do.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:14 pm
"Uss D'mzil," she corrected.
The response was automatic, almost programmed. Her tone gave no indication she cared what he called her, yet she felt obligated to throw it out there if only because Xi had taken a moment (if that) of her precious time to pick it out.
On the issue of being fat, she didn't feel a need to respond. 'Fat' to her was not an insult, just something that was stated as fact. Ugly lions were ugly, fat lions were fat. That's all there was to it.
She was actually one of the smaller ones among her litter. Definitely not fat.
"Go to sleep then. I don't care."
Zilly dodged the thwacking, but didn't leave his side. If anything, she did the exact opposite, licking away at his wounds the same way Nanako had treated hers growing up.
She said nothing about Gunnar either.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:19 pm
"What?" She was blathering about something, he didn't really want to pay attention. He just wanted to tune her out, but she was like an annoying mosquito that buzzed around his ear, her constant yapping reminding him that she was there and she wasn't going anywhere.
"I am not going to sleep here next to a dead wild dog," he spat. He turned on her, lifting a paw to push her away from him. He didn't have the energy to do much else.
She was a persistently aggravating lioness.
"I said go find Gunnar. Or I can show you where he lives. Pick one."
After she left him in peace he was going to go home and bury himself in mint once more, then he was going to sleep.
He was starting to get a terrible headache.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:27 pm
"Wild dog..." Zilly let the words roll of her tongue experimentally. She had gone to say something else, perhaps to confirm that's what the beasts were called, but a paw had clumsily smacked her in the face and that train of thought derailed.
Blood and decay were something she was more akin to. Hyena were messy eaters and not very tidy. She was used to all that, and now that he was starting to smell of death instead of mint, she was in no hurry to get away from him.
"I heard what you said. I'm not deaf. But I don't want to." Zilly awkwardly tilted her head to the side to scratch her ear with her back paw. A strange posture for a lion and just one more thing on the long list of things she'd picked up from the hyenas. "If he's still in love with me I don't want him clinging to me today."
Yes.
Yes, she had seriously just said that.
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