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 Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:03 pm
The silence of the night had always been a comfort to Sukanya. No dangerous creatures around, no one was awake. It was just, the stars and the darkness around her. She smiled. It brought back memories of her cubhood days, wandering with her family and her sister. It had been fun, slipping in and out of shadows, avoiding people you didn't' want to talk with, staying just with the family. When the family had eventually fractured, separating out into little groups, they had all kept the tradition of walking at night.
It was fine, and even fun, as a family.
As a single person, it was lonely.
Sukanya sighed, and glanced at the isolating darkness, her eyes narrowed in contemplation. She had no direction she needed to go, no place she was looking for, she was just...walking, and looking. Perhaps hoping to run into Makosa, or Adelai'e again.
Before having a son, she hadn't been lonely when walking. She'd been...happy, but the reminder of how nice it felt to have someone there for you, had struck home harder than she'd thought.
She shook her head, dispelling those thoughts.
No.
She wouldn't let those thoughts isolate her further. She tilted her jaw up and continued at a steady pace – no place in mind, but simply the determination to keep moving made the night seem worth the effort.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 7:26 am
A brief reprieve was all he needed, a moment when time simply stopped. Of course the lion would never be granted such a thing, not unless the gods themselves elected to intervene on his behalf. No, as unfortunate as it might have been for Spectre he was to be subjected to the same 'torture' each and every night. It was a fate he had come to accept a long time ago and he lived with it regardless of how awkward it might have been - well, he thought he lived with it. By current standards he couldn't be sure of anything; one moment he was thrust in to a bloody war and the next he found himself in the peace and tranquility of an undisturbed night.
Incapable of distinguishing what was real from what wasn't, he had accepted that he was probably as mad as the passersby had remarked. He could be thankful for small favours though, in the 'evenings', his world was at peace and he could enjoy these moments of respite. However, no sooner would dawn arise then he would be forced to slumber again and would find himself thrust into a bloodbath. So which was real? He couldn't put his paw on it but he certainly knew what his preference was...
Alas, this evening had begun in much the same manner as his nights always did. He woke up with the same customary stretches, allowed his back to ripple with multiple 'clicks' and 'cracks' (a testament to his age), and then promptly set off to locate something to eat. Upon waking up from his first episodes of foul 'dreams' he had discovered that larger prey were otherwise difficult to locate - or rather, not so much difficult to locate as targetting them would result in a stampede. The consequence of this discovery was that the lion much preferred to hunt for smaller quarry.
Rabbits.
Fish.
Anything that didn't scream if he was to be completely honest.
This evening he had voted for 'fish' and it was with this in mind that the white male pressed on, slinking out of his hiding place and towards the river's edge. Even from here he could catch the scent of the liquid, that faint and musky scent that the wetter regions emanated - his stomach began to rumble at the mere thought. Focused on his desire to satiate his hunger, he pressed on with little regard for what lay around him. After all, the creatures of the night often elected to avoid a creature with such wild eyes.
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 5:56 pm
Sukanya walked carefully, watching where she set down her paws so as to not make a noise. People were more sensitive to noises in the dark when they didn't have their eyes to help them know who was there - and that made people more paranoid, which made them more volatile, which made Sukanya far more cautious than she would be had she ever thought to walk during the day time.
She was quite used to making very little noise, and while it was still a habit formed as a cub, she kept a close watch on her paws, navigating around the rocks that she could barely see in the darkness. Her eyes were good, but the edges of objects still fuzzed a little.
Her paw clipped a rock, and sent it tumbling, the soft noise sounding like an rockslide to Sukanya in the quiet.
She blanched, and froze, trying to figure out if anyone had heard the noise she'd made. She glanced up, squinting into the darkness.
The faint trickle of water - a stream? - caught her attention.
She hadn't realised she was near any water, but as if her body had decided it, her mouth turned dry and suddenly she thirsted like she hadn't before.
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:21 pm
The sound, was it real or was it a fantasy?
The lion froze abruptly, the tips of his mane beginning to rise as an ice cold wave swept across his spine. His entire body gave a jolt, an abrupt quiver of protest at the manner in which his instincts had brought his body crashing back to 'reality'. It took a few moments, but, when the lion had managed to recover what little composure he did possess, his gaze began to shift left and then right across the horizon. It was an attempt to seek out whatever had made the sound, the entity wasn't in his immediate vicinity but it was close and this... this caused an array of emotions.
Perhaps his war torn world had followed him into the lands of tranquility, invaded his sanctuary in order to haunt him each and every hour of the day. A reminder of where he real 'came from', an indication that it was real and this, well, that this was all a dream. Needless to say, the lion didn't want to go back to such a world - it wasn't long before the internal monologue became panicked and uncertain.
...It wasn't long before he let out a growl of hostility.
"Who goes there?" he demanded harshly, lowering himself to the ground in preparation. For all he knew, this could be an ambush. He might have only heard one, but, this might have been their plan - send him off running in one direction and corner him in the process.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 5:40 am
In her isolating lonely thoughts, Sukanya hadn't even realised that she was not alone in her quest for water. It ws foolish, considering how many creatures inhabited the savannah, to think that she would be alone at her water source. Of course there would be others around, she thought, freezing when the hostile growl sounded in the dark shadowed night.
Thanking genetics, her parents or whatever else for her dark pelt, she fell back a step or two, hoping that she would blend in with the darkness and that the creature who had demanded to know her intentions would leave her be.
Sure, she could call out, let them know she wasn't dangerous, but she was a rogue -she wasn't stupid. Plus, all she knew was that they were hostile and male - she didn't know size, gender, or whether they were merely as afraid as she was.
Trying to keep her body close to the ground, hiding her figure and her brighter markings, she slinked closer to the water. Her dry mouth urged her to take a quick drink before she fled, and she hoped that whoever the unfriendly companion she'd found would leave her be.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 2:57 pm
A response to his query never came and served only to agitate his nerves and paranoia further. It was unsettling and the hair upon the back of his neck raised alongside his hackles. He'd heard them, he knew they were there, and yet they had decided to lapse into silence. For all intents and purposes, he would have been so bold as to assume that he was accurate in his previous assumptions - he was subject to a trap and he had absolutely no idea which direction was safe to run in. Suffice to say that it would have been a massive understatement to say that he wasn't happy.
Alas there was little else the lion could do other than narrow his eyes and permit his blue gaze to flit back and forth across his immediately surroundings. With Sukanya's markings hidden in the initial stages, he was incapable of spotting her and struggled for a number of minutes to place the previous sound in a location. However, as the winds shifted, a small flicker of scent drifted towards his nose and he spun round, his teeth bared as he regarded the area in which the scent had come from.
He may not be able to see her, but he could smell her.
"I know you are here," he murmured lowly, his gaze continuing to trail across the region that was now subject to his focus. His lips pursed thinly and he began to pad towards it, though at present, he still couldn't pinpoint who or what was there. "I dislike ghosts a great deal, you should know that my now, phantoms," he pointed out. It was at this point that he fell silent and came to a halt, his nostrils flaring as he attempted to catch her scent once more. Alas, for the time being he couldn't and with her colouration he still hadn't caught sight of her - that being said he certainly stood out like a sore thumb!
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:53 pm
Sukanya froze as he declared that he knew she was there. Did he? How had he seen her? She wanted to flee, but she was thirsty, she needed the water and he didn’t seem to know exactly where she was – yet. She tried to creep closer to the water, but she froze again at his next words, a puzzled frown crossing her face. Ghosts?...Phantoms? What was this male talking about? She hesitated, remembering her son Makosa talking of the girl who say Ghosts, the young cheeton. This was clearly not the female cheeton but…
“I am not a ghost,” she called out, her voice quiet and slightly nervous. She forced herself upright, standing firm, unconsciously revealing her blue feet in the dark. “I am a leopard, seeking water. I didn’t mean to startle you…I had hoped of avoiding confrontation tonight.”
She hesitated, shifting carefully, spying the figure in the dark. He looked more like a ghost than she, and she unconsciously took a step back. “I mean you no harm,” she called out, hoping that he might return the sentiment! She had no desire to fight. She was not a fighter.
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:32 pm
A flash of colour, ever so subtle but there. He caught enough of a glimpse to gather his wits and place the female in a particular location. However, much to his surprise, this female was not as close as he had intially anticipated and due to this mild shock, he found himself frozen in place...not by fear, but confusion. She was not in the place that she should have been, phantoms were always meant to snap at his heels and his angrily into his ears, yet according to that flicker of colour she was quite the distance from him. Suffice to say that she had just been unlucky in her approach, had she been more fortunate he would have never known.
Nevertheless the confusion was eventually dismissed and the lion swung his head round to face Sukanya, his lips parting just a touch as he observed the entity that stood before him. Sure enough, she seemed real, but then again all of his phantoms usually did when he faced them head on. What didn't make sense was the lack of hostility and more importantly, that ever so slight quiver in her voice, she was nervous (if only a smidge) and his phantoms did not get nervous.
"As would I," Spectre replied darkly, his eyes fixed firmly on the leopardess. Fortunately he made no attempts to move towards her but he didn't seem inclined to turn his back either. She was still a risk and at any moment, she could betray him. "But then again, the phantoms whisper such sweet words sometimes, empty promises..."
"You should not be here," he said finally and shook his head. "Only phantoms here, too dangerous if you aren't one."
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