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 Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 3:19 pm
 Kaiya squinted against the glare of the sun, cursing her sable colored fur for the hundredth time. There was an accident of birth she could have well done without. Why..why had the gods decided that a BLACK pelt was any kind of good idea for any kind of animal,much less one that made its home in the African Savanna?
I mean...seriously? she thought to herself as she trotted along, hunting for shade, any kind of shade, even a tiny sliver of shade...something to relive the unrelenting heat of the mid-day sun.
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 3:35 pm
 Giovanni sighed heavily as he paused beside the large, scarred trunk of a Acacia tree. Glancing at the rough, pitted and aged wood, he felt a pang of sympathy for the thing. It looked as battered on the outside as he felt on the inside. It had been many moons since his family pride was desecrated by the Noble invaders, but he still felt the wary prickling along his fur as if he was being watched, stalked even this far from their once-home.
Heaving a heavy sigh he shook out his thick graying mane and scratched his flank against the rough bark, once again trying to get rid of that twitchiness that simply refused to let go. Lifting one forepaw he licked at the scarred fur for a moment before something caught his attention, and shadow moving through the shimmering heat of the plains. Feeling the prickle intensify he pressed his ears back against his mane and frowned as he squinted, trying to see it better. Was it one of the enemy?
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 4:26 pm
Oh gods be merciful! Was that an Acacia tree ahead? Kaiya broke into a grin, her tongue lolling out, maybe they weren't all cruel if they gave her a source of shade at least somewhat close and not clear across the sun damned plain.
She might be able to revise her opinion about gods in general if it proved to be a true tree and not a figment of her sun boiled brain. A trick of her imagination and the glare of light. As much as she hated to admit it, her time spent with the healer along the cursed beach had left her a little wary about trusting what she thought she saw. No sir...these days Kaiya trusted her tail more than her eyes...though right now her tail was tingle free. Always a good sign that the tree was real.
Now, make it a tail-tingle free Acacia tree with some kind of water source and a magical carcass she could scavenge from and the dark furred hyena would damn well begin to believe in miracles, even blessings that were not detrimental to one's health!
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 4:40 pm
The shape turned and soon enough was headed straight for him. For a moment anger and violence flooded him, the desire for revenge was a wild, living thing in his breast. But as the figure grew ever closer he slowly realised that it was no lion, indeed it was not even feline. A stuttered sigh escaped him as he pushed the negative emotions away and buried them deep within his breast.
A moment later he went from guess-work to knowledge as the shape of a hyena finally made itself known amid the shimmering landscape. A female too, by the looks of things... hardly a serious threat so long as she was alone. Relaxing a little but still wary, he watched her make a beeline for the tree he was standing besides. His pale, scar-covered body visible within the tree's shadow, posture at ease though dark eyes remained focused on the stranger.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:52 pm
Ah..no..no that would not be a magical tree with a carcass to get food from and a source of water and blessed shade. No that would be a tree with a really large, really scarred, really scary looking, male lion under it.
Kaiya did a complete halt so fast she ended up on her rump, her blue eyes wide as she stared at him. Swallowing hard and promising her her betraying tingle free tail a good chewing later, she ducked her head as low as she could and stammered out.
" I..I didn't...know...that um...this..this tree..was um...taken..I'll just back..I mean..I'll just...there are a lot of trees..this one is yours...uh..yes..yours..all yours...I'll be going now..."
Slowly she backed up a step and then another, keeping her gaze on the lion, not willing to turn her back on him just yet.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 3:17 pm
Within moments of her spotting him, it was painfully clear that, not only was she no threat to him, but in fact she may be a threat to herself if her sudden submissive groveling and unhealthy backpedaling was any indication. For a brief moment he considered letting her go and leaving him in peace but then his conscience kicked in and he winced mentally. No way could he let her go off and quite possibly fry herself to a crisp in this damnable heat when there was more than enough shade for two right where he was standing.
Swallowing the faintly annoyed sigh (directed at himself mind you) he took a step to one side, leaving the deepest shadows by the tree's trunk free of his presence.
"There is more than enough room for us both here. There is not another resting place for miles... I suggest you come over here before you roast any further."
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:29 pm
Kaiya swallowed and looked up, and up, and up, at the huge lion and then back at the scorching heat waves behind her and decided that courage was the better part of valor..or maybe that was just stupidity, she could never really remember, perhaps it was both depending on your situation.
'Uh..thank you..." she bopped her head in a thank you that looked more hare like then hyena like, and sat as far as she could from him and still manage to keep in the shade. She did sit a little oddly, kind of back on her hunches, with her legs more flat on the ground, tail balancing her. Her eyes never left his, but her panting slowed down, and every once in awhile she her ears would swivel toward the sound of the crack of water one would call a stream in this heat after the rainy season.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:40 pm
Giovanni watched her silently, his dark brooding gaze as heavy as the heat that lay over the landscape. Yet was was not really focused on her, his thoughts already having turned inwards to his situaiton and the whole reason he was frying his tail off in this boiling landscape.
.. Food.
He had left his mate some distance away, safely tucked up in a deep rocky cave that had managed to hold onto some of the night's chill while the outside temperature climbed rapidly. She was worn out and tired from their month-long flight away from their old pride land. But both of them needed to eat and he was concerned for her health, so after a fairly big argument, he had left alone to go hunting.
Sighing heavily he shifted in his patch of shade, settling back on his haunches before eventually letting his body stretch out and settle on the ground with a dull thump. His massive bulk was all hard muscle, his mane thick and full as it flowers over his shoulders and down his chest. Not exactly the best thing for combating the insane heat of the noon-day sun. His sides pumped like billows as he panted, tail laying still in the sand behind him.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:53 pm
Kaiya cleared her throat a little softly, barely audible, but still loud enough to get his attention.
" I..I can braid that back for you. Just a little water on my paws and I can do a type a of braid my foster mother taught me, well one of them..she was a hare...then there was the meerkat, but she only showed me how to keep fleas and bush beatles off you, though bush beatles are good if you eat them quickly....," She stopped, realizing she'd been rambling,' uh...anyway..if you want ..I can braid it, it will make you less hot..and a thank you for letting me use the shade."
She looked down at her paws, and if her fur were not so dark, she'd be blushing by now.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:59 pm
Of all the things that she might have said to him while they sat panting under the shade of the old tree, none of them would have shocked him more than what she actually said. Blinking he turned to look at her, dark eyes blank in their confusion. But his parents had taught him well and after a moment he managed to gather himself together into some resemblance of a polite response.
"... if it will help with the heat, you are most welcome to try." He paused for a moment and then the smallest smile twitched across his maw briefly, but it was a smile and though she didn't know it, such an expression was incredibly rare for the somber male. Sitting up he blinked at her again. "Umm... where do you want me ...?" He seemed almost as lost as she looked, floundering in this most bizarre of situations.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:07 pm
Kaiya gave him the most open and trusting smile he might have ever seen, 'Oh, just lay on your belly, all regal like. This won't take long at all."
She slipped down to the stream, if you could call it that, wet her paws up to the elbows came back up and hopped onto his back. Then with out a care in the world, began to quickly and with no small skill, braid his hair back in neat rows, twisting them tight to his head, out of his face and up above his shoulders. She had to jump off him twice to re-wet her paws twice, but hopped right back on without worry.
Huffing with satisfaction at her work, she slid down, and wagged her tail, rather pleased with her work. " There you go, all done. And not to bad either. You look rather smart like that. Any better for the heat?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:17 pm
Her smile didn't really surprise him, aside from the fact that he hadn't thought anyone with an expression that innocent could have survived out in the rogue lands for very long at all. But then, by the looks of her, she wasn't doing all that great... Obediently he slid back down, just barely having time to settle on his front before he felt her slight weight land on top of him. Lucky for her, he had spent his entire life practicing discipline, or else she wouldn't have remained above him for long. Any other male would have freaked out, for to have someone on your back met you were prey to their predator. (He oft reflected on that fact during his mate's heat when she would simultaneously seduce him and try to take a lump out of his flesh... but then he had put that down to female peculiarities..)
Instead though, he lay quietly, ears back as he listened to her, feeling her small paws kneed along his spine and having to force himself to keep still and not wriggle at the weird sensation. When at length he had finished, he twisted round to try and see his own mane, but ended up only straining his neck muscles somewhat. Instead he stood and padded over to the water, peering into its flickering, muddy reflection. He barely looked like a lion now, but he had to admit she was skilled at... well, at whatever it was she had done, and the hair was no longer heating up his neck and shoulders.
Returning to their shared shade, he bowed his head to her politely, his low, gruff voice grateful. "Thank you Ma'am, it is much cooler like this."
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:33 pm
She waved a paw at him, " Ah phish, I'm not a ma'm, sounds like what others called mama hare, just call me Kaiya, and no thanks needed, you let me share your tree and water. Both things I needed badly. Glad you were friendly though, cause now I don't have to give my betraying tingle tail a good chewing for misbehaving." She turned around and gave the offending appendage a good glare.
" However, a hyena can't live on shade and water alone, so I am off to scavenge a corpse or two, maybe chase of a vulture, since I am not stupid enough to take on a leopard or a lion on."
Leaning up and giving him a lick on the nose, she smiled at him as she trotted off into the gathering twilight, softly humming to herself as he black pelt melted into the shadows.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:44 pm
Giovanni had remained silent throughout her whole running commentary, dark eyes blinking at her in a kind of mild surprise, since the full brunt of the emotion had worn off sometime in the middle of the mane-braiding exercise. As she leaned up and licked his nose, he could only watch her, not quite beyond startlement just yet as he blinked again, it seemed his limited social skills had lost under the strange hyena's eternal enthusiasm...
It ws only when she had turned and her rump was fast disappearing into the coming gloom, that he called out his farewell. For long time he lay there, watching the night slowly gather its shadow across the land. Eventually he stood and shook the sand from his coat. Time to head back and tell Maria of his rather strange encounter. And he was just dreading her teasing when she caught sight of his mane, but he had to be grateful, he had not boiled as badly with it braided out the way. Maybe he might try and suggest Maria take up the skill for him..... it couldn;t hurt to ask, could it...?
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