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 Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:10 pm
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:11 pm
It had been a few weeks since her encounter with the dead doe. Sabella still could not quite grasp what had happened to her on that day. All she knew was that after a good nights rest and a bath she had been completely fine again almost as though nothing had ever happened to her. Yet there were still moments when she'd be walking, catch the bitter, metallic scent of blood on the air and feel everything coming back to her once again. It was all quite confusing for the kirin mare. It hadn't been anything she had ever experienced before and she was really beginning to question if dismissing the idea that the elders had been keeping secrets had been smart. Perhaps she should have kept questioning what they had said weeks ago when it had first come up because all signs kept pointing to a lie no matter how she looked at it.
They said that blood had absolutely no effect on the kirin at all and yet they never let wounded travelers get too close and would instead send them to a healers' herd nearly a mile away. It wasn't something she had ever thought about before but if the blood was a problem it all made sense.
She sighed and came to a stop. This all felt wrong to her. Questioning the elders like this. Even if they had been hiding something obviously it had been for the good of the herd. They would never do anything to purposefully hurt anyone. They were good leaders with good hearts and minds. Her eyes drifted skywards to gaze at the clear night sky. So why would they send her out with no knowledge of something so dangerous?
She needed to stop thinking about such things. She needed to clear her mind and she was in the perfect place to do it. She found nothing calmer than being near or the water, or better yet, on it. Sabella lowered her gaze from the heavens to look at the shimmering pool before her reflecting the starlight so perfectly that it could nearly pass for the sky itself. This place had become her own personal haven in the past weeks. Nothing really bothered her in the area as it didn't seem to be a particularly well known watering hole. And why would it be? It was just a small thing with water that barely reached her chest. While the water was clean, far cleaner then the pond she had been dumped in, it was still tucked away deep in the forest in a small clearing that barely qualified as one.
Secluded and safe it was a place that suited her perfectly. It left her feeling at ease and it was that feeling that she craved right now. Taking a deep breath she steadied the waves of her mind and stepped out easily onto the surface of the water. Unlike most creatures she did not sink and she would not until her concentration faltered or she weakened. Standing like this was the best way to calm herself.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:16 pm
If one thought that the waves in the kirin's mind were bad then clearly they had never seen rough seas. The lone Tiger made his way through the trees with nothing short of a typhoon raging inside his head. There was something that he simply couldn't understand. He'd made the long trip from home to this strange place just to find Hisoka and yet the Fox hadn't wanted to see him. He'd destroyed the source of the game and yet Hisoka still insisted on playing. Nothing that Torao said seemed to be able to convince his partner of this. Winning Hisoka back was beginning to seem like a lost cause and that wasn't something Torao liked.
Letting out a furious roar he released a single wave of fury in the form of a kick that snapped an innocent sapling. Several small sections of forest had been destroyed from the time that he had reunited with Hisoka for the first time in over a year. When things did not go well for him his immediate reaction was to lash out at anything near him. It mattered not if these things were rocks, trees, or other living animals. 'An uncontrollable hot-head.' It was not the most poetic description he had ever received but it was the one he liked best. It was the one Hisoka had used for him. He missed the evenings when the young Fox had teased and tormented him in such a way. He missed the nights when they had worked as a team to meet the goal of the game and he missed the days when they would lie in slumber together. He missed all the things that they had had that they would never get back because the idiot bird brain had opened her great gaping mouth.
Snarling he moved as though he intended to snap another small tree. Half-way through the motion, however, the fire in the action fizzled out. In the end he barely brushed the branches of it before setting his hoof back on the ground a word hanging heavily over him.
Never.
Things would never be the way they had been. There was simply no turning back time no matter how much he craved it. Things couldn't go back, but maybe they could go on. He needed a plan. But Hisoka had always been the one to concoct their tricks and traps. He'd only been the end of the line for whatever was dumb enough to go along with the Fox. Torao scowled at himself as he began stomping his way forward again. There was no way to rely on Hisoka now. Whatever he came up with he'd have to do on his own.
Crap.
He trudged along trying to come up with a halfway decent plan to win the Fox over. Somehow he didn't think kidnapping would work. As he walked he barely noticed that the trees were beginning to thin out slightly. The only thing that made him realize it was a sudden glimpse a gold out of the corner of his eye. He slowed to a stop quickly and turned to look out past the trees.
There on the water was something he'd never thought he'd see in these parts but it was a creature he would know anywhere. "Kirin..."
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:36 pm
Whether it was Sabella reaching her physical limit for her power or the shock from the voice behind her that caused her to break concentration she wasn't sure. For the moment all she could think was "oh no" as she dropped through the water with a resounding splash. The water was nice during warm weather days. This was not one of those days. The winter was descending swiftly upon the lands and there were days when Sabella could see her breath cloud the air even with the sun high in the sky. This night was every bit as frigid as those days and the moment she hit the water it felt like she had been kicked in the gut.
While the water had calmed significantly from her initial drop it would never still. The kirin mare was trembling so hard from the chill that she was creating sizable ripples on the surface the came out from ever direction to bounce off each other and anything else in their path. A sensible mare would have removed herself from the water to dry her coat and hopefully warm up. Sabella, however, felt that she could not.
Her eyes were locked on a creature in the trees that wore the skin of a tiger on it's back like a trophy. It was clear that the creature was powerful but that was not what kept Sabella frozen, almost literally, in place. No. What had her rooted to the spot was that this creature seemed to be a male and she did not know what kind of male. Was he easy going like the travelers that passed through her village that didn't stand on formality or was he like the council of elders who would be enraged if she moved without permission. He had a fierce presence around him and if he were strict there was a very good chance that she wouldn't survive his fury.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:59 pm
The kirin was a spaz. That was Torao's first impression of her. He'd seen a few do their water walking trick before but he'd never witnessed one falling in before. He had been quite certain that the idea had been to avoid getting wet. Perhaps this female had missed that point when she had learned how to do it. Stranger still was the fact that she stayed shaking in the water like she'd be killed if she dared to move. It was quite a change from the types of mares that he was used to. Pushy, bossy things that didn't know their places. Come to think of it this was the second mare he'd encountered here that didn't seem to be tripping over themselves for the chance to act superior to him. Perhaps the mares in this area had been raised right? He smirked to himself as he marched out of the trees, one could only dream.
"Get out." He ordered with a flick of his tail. He regarded the mare with cold eyes. She was definitely a kirin and a pure one from like looks of it. She had the small stature, pronged horn, delicate scales and a tail like a bull's rather than one made from hair as his was. If she was pure then he may have just found his plan. He knew the Fox better than any other creature living or otherwise. He knew that he would never do anything to purposefully harm a creature that was so holy.
"And tell me about your family. Are you all kirin?" There was really no point in being subtle about this. She was either pure or she wasn't. If she wasn't then he'd leave, he wasn't in the mood for killing holy creatures today. If she was...well then he'd just have to drag her back kicking and screaming if he had to. He had a plan and there wasn't anything in the world that would stop him from putting it into action even if he had to spend another week hunting down a better suited candidate.
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Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:02 am
What would be considered rude or surprising behavior from many mares did not phase the kirin. All in all she was entirely used to taking orders from males that she did not personally know. It scarcely bothered her. In fact, part of her even welcomed the familiarity of being ordered around in such away. This, however, was a relatively small part. She'd been getting slowly used to the freedom of being away from her herd even if, so far, nothing good had come from it.
With all the grace expected of a female of her breed she slowly stepped out of the water and settled herself a few paces away from the pelt wearing stallion. She bowed her head properly and tried not to think about how much larger he was than she. Keeping her gaze down she spoke, "My family has been here as long as the sun has lit the morning sky." She said formally more or less reciting the tale of how her people had come to take up residence in the mountain lands. "The first was a mighty kirin as was the second and the third. They all took kirin wives and had fine kirin children. Those children were raised well and also kept true to our breed."
She decided not to mention that there were a few that had not breed pure. Those that were that way were either shunned because their mate was not strong enough or welcomed because they were a powerful addition to the clan. Either way they were not permitted to live within the main meeting grounds with everyone else. Often times they were not even allowed to reside within herd territory. Really the only thing that separated those shunned from those welcomed was if there was trouble a shunned creature would never be allowed to call on aide from the herd and would instead be attacked. If you were approved it was permissible to ask for help even if you received none.
"The generations have continued on and the herd has grown but we are all still as pure as the first three." She concluded her little speech but did not raise her gaze. In her mind she felt the need to add on that it was only the main herd that were all pure and it was that herd that the story was about.
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Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:22 am
As the mare had started her story Torao had felt the burning desire to kick her in the chest and tell her to shut up. He had asked a simple question and had not wanted to listen to an entire damn fairy tale. He restrained himself for two reasons that were practically the same. The first was that if she had a story to tell at all that probably meant that her family was old and stuffy, that just screamed 'pure' to the stallion. The second was that if Hisoka ever found out that he'd kicked a kirin he would likely never speak to Torao again even if his plan succeeded.
Forcing patience he grit his teeth and listened. Luckily enough for him the tale was both relatively short and clear. Her family was both old, whoopee, and made up of pure kirin. That was exactly what he'd needed to know. "Yer commin with me." He growled crossing the scant distance between them. He circled behind her and nudged her roughly to encourage movement. "I got someone I wantcha to meet."
All Torao could think to himself was that this was a victory. He firmly believed the stories about the kirin. They were sympathetic beings that couldn't stand violence to the point that blood was known to make them ill. Honestly, Torao thought they were just playing up that last bit to make it seem more special. A lot of people got woozy around blood. Shoot even Hisoka had lost his lunch the first time he'd seen it and the boy was meant to be made into a killer. Somehow that once amusing memory was not so funny now that everything had changed.
It would all be okay soon though. He'd bring the kirin home and have her follow Hisoka everywhere. If asking him to stop didn't work then he'd just have to guilt him out of it. What was better at guilting people to death than a girl?
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:23 pm
All her life Sabella had been highly encouraged to listen to men, forced to even. However, that behavior had only been encouraged for the males in the herd. She hardly thought that she actually needed to listen and would have been all for telling him such had she not suddenly gotten a blatant display of his strength. She had assumed that he had been strong from the beginning but it was growing clearer that he would be a very dangerous creature to tangle with. In fact, she would not have been surprised if he had killed the beast whose pelt he now wore on his back. Perhaps he was not on level with one of the fearsome predators of these lands and he was no worker horse but he worried her all the same. Talking back was something she no longer wished to do.
"A friend of yours?" She asked quietly as she took the first step forward of what she was sure to be many. She almost didn't want to know the answer to that question. Any friend of his was certain to be as tall...and likely to be every bit as pushy. She fought down a sigh that swelled in her chest. She was getting herself in far deeper than she should she could just feel it.
Perhaps it would have been better to try and flee...
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:52 pm
"Something like that..." He muttered after a sizable pause. After the small s**t storm that had been blown up back home considering his relationship with Hisoka he didn't really feel like shouting it to the world again any time soon...even though really being able to do such a thing would have been nice. Not having anything else to say on the matter he nudged her side to point her in the right direction.
The fact that she followed his guide so easily pleased him. Finally a nice docile girl. It would make all of this so much easier because really he had no desire to knock her out and drag her back. That would just get him a good yelling at and a sore neck. No thank you. It really wasn't far to Hisoka's usual 'nesting grounds' and he new the trip to be mostly down hill. Nevertheless walking was always faster than dragging.
In silence the two followed the rough trail carved into the shrubby undergrowth through the trees. Somewhere to their left a river was flowing but Torao saw little reason to follow it. The Fox's home was in the grass and not along the water's edge after all. By the time they emerged from the trees the night was still upon them and Torao wagered that they'd have several hours before sunrise still. The real question was, how long would they have to wait until the Fox returned?
Torao encouraged the mare up the side of a hill before moving out from behind her to get a clear look into the shallow valley below. Much to his surprise he could see the shaggy white pelt of his friend strewn across a rock to dry. "He's back already?" He asked himself quietly in a tongue foreign to the land. Quickly his golden eyes scanned the area and located the white form of Hisoka standing at the side off the hill grazing. His coat was still wet from a traditional bath and something about his posture told the older stallion that things had not gone well.
"What, no chickens for the slaughter tonight?" He called down to the other stallion in the same foreign language.
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:15 pm
It had been an impossibly long night for the white stallion. A pair of men had tried to capture him shortly after his rodent friends had helped themselves to man's fire to light Hisoka's lanterns. He had gotten his tail caught in the brambles of a bush not long after evading the men and his work for the night had been somewhat less than successful. When he had gone to bathe himself all he could think was how angry Kameko and Ryouma would have been to see him give up so easily. He had always been such a hard worker after all. The recent appearance of the Tiger had been effecting his drive and while he still went to try and hunt every night his successes were growing further and further between.
He scowled at nothing and everything as he bit into a clump of grass that still clung to life in the changing seasons. All he wanted to do was fill his belly and get to bed early for once. Unfortunately nothing ever seemed to go the way he wanted it to and at the familiar rough and irritating voice Hisoka whirled his head around to shoot the Tiger a withering glare. All of his frustrations from the evening had suddenly found themselves presented with a convenient, striped target.
"Get out of here!" He spat fiercely in the same language as he turned his body about. "I thought I told you not to come back? Why don't you ever listen?" As strange as it was Hisoka had actually missed the chance to yell like this. It felt good to let everything out every now and then. He had been preparing to say more when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see what it was and froze.
Standing on the hill a few paces behind Torao was a creature he never thought he'd ever see again. There had only been a few that had come over from China on the island where they had resided. It was a kirin. Hisoka didn't know how it was possible. How could such a creature find itself so far from home? Why would it ever want to come to a place like this anyway? Most importantly, what was it doing with Torao?
His shocked expression slowly changed to suspicion. "Torao...why is there a kirin with you?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:05 am
Sabella was quite grateful that his first rough shove had been the last. For the remainder of the trip he settled for lightly nudging her in one direction or another. She knew that the only reason she was leading was so that the stallion could keep an eye on her but still she was content. Anything was better than being shoved along even though the whole situation was like a sheepdog with flock.
As she was guided out of the trees a prickle of fear shot down her spine. It was still the dead of night and they were just strolling casually out into the wide open. Either the stallion was cocky enough to believe that he could take on anything alone or foolish enough to believe that she would be any use in a fight. He knew of the kirin so clearly he must have known that kirin did not fight. Not her people. Which lead her to quickly rule out the second option and before long her eyes were darting about fearfully. Was he leading her straight into dangerous territory?
At first, it didn't seem like it. He nudged her up the side of a hill before passing her to look out over the surrounding area. She couldn't see anything unusual about the place or anything dangerous. In fact, she couldn't see anyone else at all. Her night vision had never been the best but surely there should have been clusters of horses about if the area was safe. There weren't and the stallion that had lead her there was muttering some strange words that she had never heard before.
Before she really knew what she was doing her feet had begun to move towards the pelted stallion. Then he shouted down into the valley and she froze. She knew not what he said but she recognized the tone. The mocking greeting to someone known, someone close. Then from the other side of the hill she heard a second voice shouting in the same tongue. It was a male voice and while it was smoother and gentler than her guide's was it sounded furious.
Nervously she shuffled still closer to the edge of the hill. The stallion had mentioned that he wanted her to meet someone, was this angry person that someone? She wanted to see what exactly she had just gotten herself into and as she came to the crest of the hill she was finally able to see. There was a white stallion, painted red, standing at the base of the hill and glaring up at her guide. He looked smaller but she couldn't tell if that was just because of perspective or not.
Satisfied with the knowledge of who was being spoken to she shifted to back up to where she had been when suddenly a pair of golden eyes were fixed on her. The two males had the same eyes and that meant they were also the same as hers. She had always been told that her eye color had been rare and yet here she was standing with two others that possessed it. Though she was not sure if it was the color of the white one's eyes or how they stared at her surprised that unnerved her.
Clearly he had not been expecting company and as his shock faded away he seemed to direct his attention back to her guide. She recognized almost nothing out of what was said but heard one familiar word: kirin. What was with all the people in this land. She hadn't met a single person that hadn't felt the need to fixate themselves on her breed. Surely they couldn't be all that rare?
"Ummm...yes, hello." She said slowly unsure if she should be speaking at all. "Yes, I am a kirin. It is nice to meet you."
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:52 am
While the Tiger was far from pleased by this reception he couldn't claim to be even a little shocked by it. His Hisoka had changed. He wasn't the cute anti-social, stubborn, teasing guy anymore. That day had ruined the old Hisoka for good but oh if he didn't still have the same charms he used to. Now he was an anti-social, stubborn, irritating and rather angry stallion with a giant chip on his shoulder and a stick shoved so far up his butt that it would probably never see the light of day again. For the life of Torao he couldn't tell if the affections he felt towards the other male were the universe's idea of a joke or a punishment for his existence. Perhaps it was both. One thing was certain though, he hadn't been able to get a shouting distance away from the Fox without getting burned ever since they had been reunited.
As Hisoka stopped shouting at him for a moment to gawk at the kirin Torao got a sense of satisfaction. He knew his plan would work. Hisoka's respect and adoration for the strange creatures was still firmly in tact. Good. He wouldn't want anything to happen to her.
And speaking of the kirin...
Torao snorted and rolled his eyes. If he'd had any suspicions that she might know their language those had gone straight out the window. "Trust me...he knows." He said not bothering to conceal his amusement. It was almost cute how stupid she was being and she didn't even realize it. He then walked over and leaned in close. "If you want t'meet him...do it right." He whispered in her ear promptly before thrusting his weight against her to knock her down the hill.
Hisoka would probably yell at him for that but that was okay. It wasn't like he'd actually hurt the mare...she was still on her feet just going quickly down the side of a hill on them.
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Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 10:22 am
Hisoka's ears shot backwards as he watched his partner shove the kirin down the hill. You didn't shove a kirin! They were holy beasts! That was as bad as pissing on a sacred tree.
"Torao!" He growled in warning as he darted up the side of the hill to intercept the mare as best as he could. He did what he could to slow her stumble gently but in the end it was still an awkward mix of getting hit on the side and pushing back to keep from falling over. Perhaps one day he would try to figure out a better way to stop someone as they came stumbling down a hill.
That or he would just kill the source of his troubles now and be done with it.
After checking that Sabella was steady he marched the rest of the way up the hill to confront the older and slightly taller stallion. "What is wrong with you?" He demanded fiercely glaring at the Tiger with all of his might. If looks could kill he would be dead or at least in a good amount of pain. "You kidnapped a kirin?!" He wanted to end the stallion in front of him right then and there. Their history be damned he was getting sick of all the nonsense the stupid cat kept pushing on him. "How could you even do such a thing?!"
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