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 Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 9:39 pm
What was in there?
…Mm. Neh.
Who was in there? What could they be? And, oh, why did they moan quite so much?
Nodding her head in satisfaction, the little pup let her head tilt just so. Before her lay the Mouth, almost hidden between trees and brush, but not quite out of the little one’s attention; it was fanged and monstrous, a great Swallower patched into the side of tall earth, and just as it had for several nights after its discovery, it was breathing. She could hear the sounds of coiling air deep in its black throat, and she could feel the great drafts that issued forth when its belly had grown full. She could smell something, too, and she wondered just what it was such a thing ate - and it was important to know what it ate, if she was going to travel down its throat in search for whatever other things it had swallowed. For days she had pondered the Mouth’s intentions (good? Evil? Or maybe… perhaps a bit otherworldly?), crawling up to its stone lips and peering between its fangs inquisitively, but she had yet to find any reason to step further. She was, after all, a good girl, who knew her boundaries and was certain that she was too small to do anything drastic on her own.
Also. She had heard the tales of spirits (Tonrar? Were they called tonrar?), the stories that other packmates liked to spin while winter nights grew lonely and cold. She didn’t know much, but enough of what she had heard warned her against dangerous heroics. She supposed the Mouth had taken in some unfortunate soul, a little lost ghost that had become its meal and sustenance, and now, when the Mouth sighed, its whimpers were the sounds she heard. Or perhaps the Mouth itself was beside itself with misery, being only a great hole in the ground and incapable of movements. Oh dear, that was a lot for one pup to ponder over.
“Perhaps it would do you well to grow a tongue,” she said thoughtfully, her voice hanging emptily in the stillness like a sudden interruption. One needn’t be in the act of conversing in order to be sharing words, anyways, and so she really only spoke aloud for her own amusement; and the Mouth seemed to grin just a little, probably thinking her to be a little strange, but she didn’t care. “Yes, a tongue. Then I could understand what you’ve been so fervently going about. So, I want to know. If you’ve swallowed lost souls, does that mean you’ll swallow a little puppy like myself? Or maybe you have a bellyache. I always make a fuss when I’ve eaten something wrong and feel like sick. Did you eat a bad soul? What would that have tasted like?”
Eugh. Probably… bad. Could a cave get sick?
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Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:48 pm
 What was her sister carrying on about now?
Ugh. Mahuika hardly cared anymore. Between Yakone's bizarre contemplations and Aglakti's penchant for incomprehensible vocabulary, Mahuika didn't have much patience at all for the majority of her siblings. Honestly! She hardly fit in most days. She didn't even really look like any of them.
And she certainly didn't spend any of her time hanging around the mouth of a cave, talking to it like it was alive.
No, Mahuika had a better use for her time. For example, practicing her assassin skills. She was too young to be training for real, but she hadn't let that stop her from trying her best anyway. Besides! What was the point in being in a pack of assassins if you didn't practice the family trade?
So for some time now, the dappled pup had been lurking in the shadows, watching her sister as though following the movements of prey. She was pleased with herself. She'd followed her all the way out here and hidden so successfully in shrubbery and behind rocks that Yakone seemed completely oblivious to her.
But now she was bored, so it seemed as good a time as any to strike.
Bunching all the muscles in her small little body, the pup narrowed her eyes, sized up her opponent, and....
...."RAWR!"
Leapt from the shadows to pounce.
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:47 pm
Ah-haw, look at this cave trying to teach her things.
As she rambled on the Mouth seemed to draw in a deep breath, holding it in and, in the pup’s mind, listening very intently to what she had to say. But the moment she paused, the very moment she took a break to think of more things to lecture it with, the Mouth gave a great heaving sigh that sounded quite like, ‘A true warrior and assassin is always aware of their surroundings!’
Or perhaps she was just remembering a past lesson. It surely sounded like something her mother or her father would say, and it seemed to fit right alongside the main doctrines of the pack - Yakone always took those kind of things very seriously, though it gave her a little amusement to hear it from a cave. Still, she perked her little ears up and, very carefully, surveyed her little patch of forest from the corners of her eyes; the Mouth had no reason to want to trick her, anyways, and if it thought there was a possible threat sneaking up behind her… being very quiet and very sneaky… well now, that was an admirable way to track a preoccupied pup!
Yakone wasn’t the least bit surprised when her sister suddenly erupted from the bushes, dark toes outstretched as she yelled nonsense at the top of her lungs. It was all very silly, really, and raising her eyebrows Yakone let herself be bowled over - she flopped onto her back, pushed down rather roughly from a well-executed attack, and blinking slowly - unaffectedly - she gave her snarling sister a smile. “Well hey there, Mahuika,” she greeted rather plainly, rolling a shoulder to move her sister’s sharp little claws out of a tender spot and wagging her tail. “Didn’t expect to see you all the way out here. How’s your day been so far?”
The thought came to her just a bit later that, perhaps, she should have acted at least a little surprised. Mahuika was the overachiever of their litter, and liked to fancy herself a youth-in-training, more than willing to embrace the family lifestyle and always striving to make herself stronger, more intimidating. Yakone should have humoured her, but then, it was too late for that kind of reaction anyways. Poor Mahuika, didn’t know that the Mouth had seen her coming…
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:41 pm
"Got you!" Mahuika said, triumphantly, temporarily oblivious to the fact that her sister had seen her a mile off. Maybe the battle cry had been a bad idea. But, nevertheless, she HAD her, and that was the important part. She stood over her sister -- no, lorded over her -- head and tail held high, and grinned broadly.
Then she realized just how not-involved Yakone was in the whole game.
Well, that was a bit of a downer. Ah well. Practice would make perfect. "What are you doing out here, anyway? I've been following you all day and you've just been sitting here talking to a cave."
She clambored off her sister and stretched, giving a nonchalant yawn.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 5:51 pm
"So you did! You sure did catch me, Mahui."
Mahuika could have her little victory, and celebrate it however she wanted - though Yakone thought her big-girl Alpha stance was a bit presumptuous, if not just a part of her sister’s personality. Yakone was extremely grateful that she didn’t have the same kind of need to be top dog, so to speak, and that someone had thought to make her the patient one of the sisters. Oh, how much she dealt with…
But if it bothered her, she never made any fuss. She had bigger things to concern herself with… or maybe, she didn’t really notice just what Mahuika was really doing. She could be so absent sometimes!
“Well, I guess I’ve been doing… things,” Yakone answered mildly, wondering if she should tell her sister about the Mouth. She probably would call Yakone something mean, though, like… well, any one of the fancy names she could come up with, she had a very quick tongue. But then, Yakone wasn’t one for witholding the truth. “Just things. Nothing you’d be interested in.”
Mahuika seemed to grow bored of her hunt and capture, however, and finding her paws again after her sister lumbered off, Yakone shook herself all over. And then, almost promptly, she ambled toward her sister and asked, “What do you think could be at the bottom of this cave? I’ve been asking it for a while, but it won’t answer me straight, and I don’t think I really wanna crawl down there…”
Which was rational. She didn’t need to say she was afraid of being eaten or turned into a spirit; not that she was afraid, just sorta concerned.
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Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:48 pm
Mahuika wrinkled her nose at her sister, suspecting she was being patronized, but she said nothing about it and instead turned her attentions toward the cave. She had never paid them much attention, in truth. She had always been far more interested in the river. It was loud, fierce, strong, deadly.
It didn't sit around looking foreboding.
"Well, sister," she said, rather impatiently, "It's not answering you because it's a cave."
Obviously.
"....If you're that curious I can go take a look around, if you want."
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Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:48 pm
Mahuika could believe that caves were as silent as they seemed, if that was what she wanted; nevermind that Yakone was certain the cave could tell her things that others just wouldn’t understand. The Mouth was being stubborn, and while Yakone wasn’t quite up to the task… “Oh, would you? That would be incredibly swell!” she said, being rather sincere this time. “But it is very dark, and sorta wet, and… and I think it tilts down into the earth, and there are so many of those teeth! Are you sure?”
Perhaps she should be the one to at least make sure the Mouth wasn’t gonna bite. Walking hesitantly, she peered very carefully between the fangs - and was rewarded with a blast of warm, humid air. Its throat was still too dark, and she still couldn’t see anything, but at least… at least it seemed to be allowing her near this time. “I think if you’re really careful it’ll let you in,” she decided, looking to her sister with a less-than-apathetic, more-than-pleased expression.
Still… “Can… Can I follow behind you? I’m just so reeeallly curious….”
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:42 am
Mahuika followed after, sniffing at the mouth of the cave. It was very dark inside, she noted. It also looked a bit slimy. Well, she wasn't a coward.
It did, briefly, occur to her that once she got in she might not find her way back out, but it seemed like a relatively small risk to take.
"Sure, if you want," she said, in response to her sister's last question. Truth be told she hadn't really heard anything else Yakone had said, she'd been so focused on the cave mouth -- and so used to tuning out the other pup. "C'mon, then."
She took a few steps forward, still sniffing furiously at the cave mouth, and lowered herself to her belly to creep inside.
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:54 pm
Yakone was really liking her sister right about now. After all the warnings she had been given (because surely, she had heard them and taken them to heart), she was still going where no pup had ever dared gone before! … Unless it was a pup the Mouth had eaten and had turned into a spirit, but that was probably the least of their concerns. Yep, the very least. Mahuika might have been a very rough, sometimes mean littermate, but at least she was full of bravery and curiosity.
She was right behind her sister as she began her climb inside the Mouth, though she was careful to give plenty of personal space just in case the bad spirits inside decided to attack. It probably wasn’t right to think of Mahuika as a body shield at that moment, but Yakone made herself feel better by reasoning that, if a spirit really wanted to eat them both, it would just have to open its jaws wide enough; they weren’t made out of anything real, anyways, and could just swoop through the two pups before either of them could sneeze. But it made Yakone feel the slightest bit better to know that she’d be eaten second, not first… and made her feel a little dejected because that meant Mahuika would see the Mouth’s treasures first. So long as she was still so willing to share the adventure, Yakone thought. “Do you smell anything strange? she asked, peering between her sister’s ears and breathing deep. “I thought I did earlier. It could be bad news…”
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:48 am
"It does smell funny in here," she agreed, taking a whiff of the stale cave air, ears flicking back. Her brow furrowed and she sneezed, her nostrils offended by the influx of musty odor. "Like...fish? No...not fish."
Well, little matter now. Tentatively, she crept forward, keeping her center of gravity low. It was slimy under her paws, and as she moved forward she splashed into a puddle. This made her pause. Last thing she wanted was to slip and drown in front of her sister. Or twist a paw on the slimy floor.
It was cold inside, now that she was in, and the ground seemed to be going down a slow decline. She leaned back, stepping very carefully. "Watch your paws," she said, and heard her voice echo from further down in the cave.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:51 pm
“Watchin’ my paws, watchin’ my paws~ Ooh, but that smell isn’t a very nice one, not at all.”
Mahuika was right; it was like fish, but it wasn’t like fish. It smelled old and strange… could spirits smell old and strange? It didn’t agree with Yakone’s delicate nose, anyways, and stifling a sneeze, she crept along behind her sister. The Mouth was very interesting on the inside, no matter the chill or the slime - which went very naturally with a throat, anyways - and with every step she just couldn’t help imagining that they were traveling down into a great, cavernous stomach. Sooo many things were waiting for them down below! She could tell it was a very long sort of throat, the way Mahuika’s voice bounced about, and wondering briefly if she was waking anything, Yakone herself fell deadly silent.
Splish. Pliip! Plooosh…
In the absence of voices, sounds from deep within the cavern echoed and hummed. Water, a lot of water, or a leaky ceiling, or - or her own paws, slapping against the damp stone floor with a surprising amount of force as she attempted to keep from slipping into her sister’s hindquarters. It was deliciously eerie, and so very unknown, that Yakone could hardly suppress a shiver - of excitement, excitement, not the chill! Never the chill. And not fright, not anymore… mostly. She didn’t have to be afraid of anything with her wonderfully rash sister leading the way, not the sounds or the smells, or the new feelings as her fur brushed against slick cave walls and her nails scratched grooves in patches of lichen and slime. But the smells were becoming strong, and the sounds were growing louder, and certainly they were nearing the very gut of the Mouth, where Yakone’s greatest ‘concerns’ were most likely awaiting their arrival. Treasures or evil spirits? Cave rivers or wellsprings? Gooey insides? “Oh-ey, Mahui?” Yakone whispered, wrinkling her nose as she traveled just a bit too close and felt the gentle brush of her sister’s tail across her face. “What do we do if there’s an enemy down there? Like, a real one, not just a cave spirit. Do ya think you could take them on, give them a good one-two?”
Because that was important to know. Very important.
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Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:12 am
"Of course I can," Mahuika said, and she mostly meant that. She had led the way in silence, mostly with a constant barrage of thoughts along the lines of -- oh, this is disgusting, and slimy, and smelly, and why am I doing this -- and in truth the idea of meeting an enemy in this cave's belly would be a welcome change. "We run into trouble, you just leave it to me."
She hesitated then. It wasn't an enemy -- and honestly, what kind of enemy would it be, a giant fish? ew, or a frog, an enormous slime-covered frog with warts and bulbous eyes and now that she imagined it she almost expected it at any minute -- but it wasn't an enemy really that concerned her. It was the possibility that maybe her sister wasn't nuts, that maybe something else could be at the heart of the cave.
"...And, um. If we run into a spirit. You're going to....give it a good talking-to, or whatever you do, right?"
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 9:14 pm
Well, that took a load off her shoulders! So all the heavy-hitting wouldn’t involve her; that was just fine and dandy, considering Yakone wasn’t nearly as confrontational as her sister. The cave may have been gloomy and cold, but knowing that no mortal danger would come to her… it was a bit like becoming fearless. She didn’t mind her sister’s silence one bit, taking in the strangeness of the world around her as though they had, in some form, managed to slip into the most spiritual of worlds known to Wolf. Her sister saw dank, slippery rock, and might have been disgusted by it, but Yakone could only think it was beautiful. Could all souls come to live in places like this? she wondered, feeling so far divided from the living world that she feared - for a brief moment - that she had left her mortal body in the sunlight.
Sunlight? Not down here. Here she saw only the faintest of glows, a strange, almost blue wavering somewhere far down the throat, as though some ephemeral being was waiting for them, calling them further…
And then, Mahuika brought up the most important of questions. Didn’t she know? “Well, if it’s a spirit then there’s really not much that anyone can do.” Yakone shrugged, nonchalant. “Spirits are strong, and will do whatever they want…”
She paused. That probably wasn’t the answer Mahuika was looking for; it was the truth, but not very comforting, and probably not something Mahui wanted to hear while doing something for her. She thought a moment, then continued, “But there are things I can say that’ll make them think twice about spiriting us away. It’s all about convincing them that if they behave rudely, something bad will happen to them. You know? Like, ‘Don’t you dare snap up these pups, they are the children of the most respected assassins in the world of Telk! To take them is to curse yourself!’ GraaaAAAH!”
Yakone’s dusty-red ruff bristled, and her black lips pulled back to reveal sharp little puppy teeth; she arched her back and affixed the tip of Mahuika’s tail with a crushing, spirit-bowling glare, though her sister couldn’t see it, and figured that if they did come across any bad spirits, she could probably convince them to turn the other way.
But why would she want to scare it away? What if she could bully it into answering some of her questions? She had so much to ask! She stomped about a bit, feeling both giddy and fierce, completely untouchable with her bodyguard sister and her own implacable set of wits. Have at us, ye great monsters! Be ye mortal or far-removed from earth, the Tomkin Sisters will rent you to shreds! Delve deeper into your hideaways, else we’ll find you and -
”Wah!”
Stompy little puppy paws hit slick, wet algae. Momentum and slope bore Yakone straight into her sister’s backside, and for a moment Yakone could have sworn she was being shoved!
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 8:43 pm
Mahuika's ears flicked. Spirited away? She hadn't signed up for that. Tomkin might be the land of the spirits, but that didn't make her in a rush to join them.
She listened to her sister's explanation, summing it up in her mind as so much mumbo-jumbo. Her nose wrinkled. Well, whatever worked she supposed...but she really would rather Yakone actually could curse them, if she was going to be making that sort of claim. Lying to the spirits seemed even more dangerous...
....if they existed at all, she reminded herself firmly. Perhaps it was sacriligeous of her, but Mahuika wasn't a wolf prone to superstition. Indeed, here, in the bowels of the damp earth, was the closest she had ever gotten to fearing they might not be alone...
"ACK!" She yelped, caught off-guard by Yakone's sudden lurch into her haunches. Her paws slipped on the slimy rock and she tumbled forward, sliding down into algae-infested water and belly-surfing down the shallows.
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 9:31 pm
“MAHUIKA! MAHUIIIII!”
They were being swallowed! The spirit of The Mouth was unhappy with their intrusion, and was going to make short work of the poor, wretched little creatures it had caught in it’s stomach! Oh, they were going to die, they were going to dissolve, and become moaning, crying spirits, trapped for an eternity in darkness and despair and -
Praise the spirits, they were only in a pool of water.
Yakone’s tumble behind her sister had been a frightening one, so certain was she that the filmy jaws of the spirits were dragging them into the black abyss that the moment her little body was flung into the cold, stagnant waters of an underground pool, she imagined she was floundering in belly juices. But alas, they were alive and well! She only flailed against mortal waters, and therefore, she was in no danger. The belly itself was real, however, her bright eyes scanning about a large, black cavern with both incquisitiveness and suspicion. Behind her the slick, dark Throat stretched upwards, and before her the pool stretched into blackness and mystery, over the dark shape of her soggy sister and under a ceiling rich with small, curling stalagmites. Oh, but it wasn’t dark down here, not really - there was a faint, watery sort of light coming from somewhere, somewhere…
Yakone pawed the water from her eyes and blinked several times, but she was sure it wasn’t her imagination that filled the cavern with an indistinct blueish light. This must have been the final resting place for all lost spirits. There was no mistaking it - they were in a world where the living hardly ever traipsed, and sloshing gently through the water, Yakone found herself completely overwhelmed. And the light... the light was the essence of a spiritual world, a beautiful and frightening colour that came from...
From above her head! Yakone looked to the ceiling and saw for herself delicate strands of pearls and silk, not at all unlike the markings that decorated their beautiful mother. Oh, there would be some to say they were only glow worms, and that bioluminescence had everything to do with their abilities. But to Yakone they were souls on a string, gathered together by those on the other side of mortality and held where they could not be taken away. "And so they cry out because they cannot escape..." she sighed softly, now fully understanding the sounds she had heard from above. "Or do they draw us in, to make us one of them? No, no, most certainly they are benevolent. They would never - "
Mumble, mumble, mumble. Hmm, yes, this is that and that is what that used to be, and...
Though she had started out addressing Mahuika, Yakone quickly distracted herself with the strange world about her. Obviously they weren't going to be pounced on by something living, not in this place, and so it would fall on her shoulders to keep them safe if she was wrong about the whole 'benevolent' thing.
So curious...
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