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 Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:50 pm
 Mahuika had always been fascinated by the river.
Ironic, perhaps, considering the way her mother had made an appearance in the pack -- but nevertheless, Mahui was always intrigued by the water. She knew it was dangerous. That was, in fact, the exact reason why she liked it so much. Flirting with danger was something she found extremely enjoyable. She was fearless, like all pups, and confident, and independent, and it made a recipe for a little daredevil.
Besides, it was the best place to go to be by herself, most of the time. And Mahuika liked being by herself, because it meant she didn't have to worry about doing what she was supposed to do or saying what she was supposed to say -- two things she was very bad at.
She hadn't learned to swim yet, though, and she wasn't quite brave enough to learn by jumping in. So instead she wandered alongside the riverbank, wandering its path, and found herself quite far from home indeed, lost in her own thoughts.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:34 pm
 While he loved his siblings, he definitely enjoyed time by himself. He was older, after all. Well, not in body, but in mind. Er, at least he thought so. He rather liked wandering off on his own, still thinking himself to be impenetrable, like many critters his age. He scoffed at the idea of a hawk carrying him off, because he knew he would fight back. What kind of hawk would want to get it's feet chewed off?
That was his reasoning as he plodded alongside the river, exploring rather far from the den. He quite liked the gurgling, rushing sound and the threat that it opposed. He wanted to learn how to swim, but he was sure this place was too swift for him. He needed to be bigger, for one thing, and he could hardly wait for that day.
Until then, he simply dreamed about it.
One day, he'd be as big as his parents. No, bigger! He'd be bigger, larger, stronger. He'd be better in every way than any of his relatives. He was ambitions... Probably a little too ambitious, but he really didn't want to be just average. Those who were just average were the ones who weren't really remembered and he wanted to be remembered.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:06 pm
Mahuika wandered toward the river, crouching at the side to lap at the water and to contemplate its depths.
Her ear flicked, catching the sound of another approaching, and she jerked back from the water, wheeling around. "Who's there?" She called, sniffing at the air, small hackles raising along her back. She bared her sharp little puppy teeth and snarled at the empty air, casting about to find the intruder.
She'd heard the sound of someone approaching -- she knew it! Now she just couldn't quite find its source...
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:11 pm
He froze suddenly, hackles lifting as his pale eyes searched for the voice. Someone sensed him first? Blasphemous! How could he have let that happen? The pup chided himself silently as he let his delicate, yet untrained nose search for the scent of this stranger. Sounded female and she didn't sound that old. Hell, they were probably about the same age. Still, he couldn't let his guard down.
He debated holding his tongue and creeping towards the voice, just to see what would happen... But changed his mind as he took a step forward on his large, inexperienced paws. He wasn't quite ready for something like that. Not yet, at least. But one day his sneaking skills would astound everyone, that much he was sure of. In the back of his mind, he hoped that he lived up to his expectations, but he didn't realize how he was setting them far to high, not yet.
"I could ask you the same thing." He responded haughtily as he plodded nonchalantly towards the other pup, making little to no effort to mask himself.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:18 pm
"You could," she said, boldly, stepping toward his voice, "But you're the one trespassing, not me."
Well, that might have been a lie. In truth, Mahuika hardly knew where she was, and didn't even know precisely where the boundaries of the pack lay. For all she knew, she was the one trespassing.
But she wouldn't tell him that.
As the other pup came into view, her own teal eyes narrowed appraisingly. "...Who are you?" She demanded again, but her tone had changed. "And why do you look so much like me?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:25 pm
"I would know if I was trespassing."
He responded flatly, ignoring the fact that he definitely did not know. The uncertainty whispered in the back of his mind, but he did his best to ignore it as he puffed his chest out and did his best to appear, well, tough. He deflated slightly when he saw her, but tried to keep up appearances the best he could. Her question reflected exactly what he was thinking.
"I don't know, why do you look so much like me? Name's Rainfall, anyways. Who are you?" He flicked his ears rather cockily as he approached the other pup who reminded him much of the splotchy blue and orange patterns that adorned his legs. she did look rather familiar, yet different at the same time. It was quite strange!
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:40 pm
"Rainfall? What kind of stupid name is that?" Her nose wrinkled and she approached him, stiff-legged. "I'm Mahuika. And this, I'll have you know, is my parent's territory, and you'll be in big trouble if they catch you here!" She puffed up, quite importantly.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:44 pm
"Well, what kind of dumb name is Mah-hu-ah-kee or whatever it is you call yourself? At least you can pronounce mine." While he felt as though he should have been offended, for some reason he was almost amused by her. She almost reminded him of himself. Maybe that was why he wasn't furious? But that didn't change the fact that he was mildly annoyed.
"And how can it belong to your parents when mine are right around the corner? I think you're fibbing, fibber." He snorted. Of course they weren't right around the corner, as he had wandered off a ways, but he wasn't about to admit that, either.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:59 pm
She glowered at him, and didn't even try to correct him about her name. Instead, she leaned in for a rather probing sort of sniff, eyes narrowed. "You don't smell like you belong here," she said, still bluffing. Maybe she was a fibber. "Who are your parents, huh?"
And then the rest just came tumbling out. "Because my parents are great assassins, and this is Tomkin land where the spirits are, and you don't wanna mess with us!"
She winced. That wasn't very sneaky at all. Now she'd have to kill him.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:03 pm
"You don't look like a welp of any great assassin to me." He snorted indignantly as she relayed her heritage. Why couldn't he be born of assassins? Why did his family have to be so boring? She didn't look like anything great at all! In fact...
"You like you're just one of my little brothers or sisters. Nothing great at all." He grumbled, conveniently ignoring telling her just who his parents were. Not that it mattered, anyways. He didn't have to explain anything to her, right? Nope, not at all. Maybe if she were grown, but she wasn't. She wasn't any better than he! Couldn't be!
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:11 pm
This was a hard knock for the pup.
In her heart, she'd always worried about her parentage. She'd never had any specific reason to, really -- except that she didn't look anything at all like anybody in her family. And except that she never seemed to exactly mesh with them, was always doing her own thing, was always picking fights even when she didn't mean to. And except that she didn't even really know if she cared about them at all, because she felt her love wasn't the right kind, or good enough.
So she looked back at him, wounded. He didn't look like any of her siblings. But she did, truly, look like him.
What if somebody made a mistake? she wondered, in the back of her mind. What if she weren't her parent's child at all, but the sister of this idiot?
It was too awful to bear thinking about. "I'll show you what a great assassin I am," she said, growling, and then jumped forward to pounce on him.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:17 pm
He hadn't exactly expected her to pounce.
For some reason, he figured she'd just roll over and take his taunting. Usually others did or just ignored him, so he half expected her to do the same. She was the first pup he had met outside of his family, after all. He didn't know exactly what to expect, but being attacked by someone his own age didn't really fall into his "what should happen" category. He just assumed everyone would like and look up to him.
Obviously, his expectancies weren't accurate. This was proven to him when he was met by her weight. He didn't hesitate too terribly long, however, and as soon as she collided with him, he began flailing his paws, doing his best to chew and claw on his new opponent in an effort to get her to get away from him.
"Why you little! Get offa me, you mangey mouse-dung!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:31 pm
"Little?" She screeched, trying her best to plant all four paws around him so he couldn't squirm away. Somehow, of all the things he'd just called her, 'little' was what resonated negatively. "I'm not little! You're little!"
She nipped at his shoulder. She'd put him in his place!
Without meaning it to, her rump end started to waggle, tail waving behind her enthusiastically. She was having fun, although she'd never admit it.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:35 pm
"Your mom is little!" He yipped back as he defended himself, kicking and nipping until he managed to squirm out from under her. Damn those tails and not being able to completely control them! His own was wagging, although he was doing his best to appear menacing.
A worthy opponent! This was most interesting.
"Your paws are little!" He gave a growl, though it was hardly that frightening and was, well, actually quite humorous in his young, puppish voice.
"Why doncha come over here and I'll show ya how a true "assassin" pup fights~"
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:53 pm
"Yeah, and your face is little!" She shot back, dropping into a crouch, though her rear was rather stubbornly up in the air, tail waving like a banner now. Her eyes narrowed menacingly, but when she growled it was half-way choked with a laugh. "I saw how you fight! You fight like...like a dumb boy!"
Well, it was the best insult she could come up with on short notice! And it was true.
She jumped forward then, darting in to attack once more.
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