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 Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:19 am
Kaiya sighed, and shivered. It was cold, the type of cold that only the savannah could get after being hotter then hell during the day. She was tired of be cold, and today not only as she cold, she was hungry too. Both things made her wish for the warm den of her hare family when she barely had opened her eyes.
Fond memories of her puphood came back to her and she sighed, wondering if she'd ever get used to being a hyena and if ti really mattered. Another cold breeze slipped up her spine, reminding her again it had been very foolish to get so close to the mountains. Even along there border.
Suddenly feeling more lonely then ever, Kaiya trudged up a hill, toward some rocks that seemed like they might at least give shelter. The smell of hyena was very strong here, more then likely pack territory, but maybe she could be luck and just be on the very outskirts of their border. So far her tail hadn't tingled yet.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:32 am
 Exhaustion lay thick upon the male, his coat was dull and dusty, crimson eyes vacant with the dead look of hope lost. The pack had been getting more vocal in their suspicions, some had started getting physical as well. He accepted their taunts and jibes, just as he accepted the occasional rock dropped down the cliffs or nasty 'gifts' left in his den.
Still, nothing they did was worse than the pain that existed within, the self hatred for his own failure in finding his best friend-would-have-been-mate's pups. Days had turned into weeks and still no sign of them had been forthcoming. Kimya had ceased returning to his den, too easy to be found there... instead he now lived high up on the side of the valley, amid the boulders where only Daktari ever went looking for him. Not that the crimson male had been up there much lately, what with his mate's slowly disintegrating sanity and the need to look for his pups... Kimya had barely seen the red male.
Swallowing a sigh of loss, the shadow slipped across the rocks, following the southern most path that followed the board of the pack's land. He had come this way so often, and yet he felt compelled to keep checking, to see if any new trace presented itself. Something had taken those pups, they hadn't just vanished into thin air...
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:42 am
Oh there it was, the tingle. Kaiya stopped dead in her tracks and dropped to her belly, slinking backwards toward the nearest bolder and its shadow. Her perfectly pitch black coat blending in with it. She closed her eyes and tried not to whimper.
Really all she wanted was a little rest, just a few hours of sleep away from the wind, maybe warm if she curled into a tight enough ball in a small enough space. Her paws were already a mess again. The half mad lioness who had helped her before and taught her some healing craft would be horrified to know she'd not been taking care of them, and while they were not cracked to the point of bleeding, they were close.
Please, she thought to herself, let whoever or whatever it is just move on and let me rest the night..
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:49 am
The movement was more than enough to alert the hunter that still lurked within the beaten down male. Once feared for his prowess and silent attacks, he had not lost his skills, only let them slip a little. Freezing in place, ears flattening along his neck, he squinted into the shadows of the rocks he knew so well.
"Who are you?" He growled, his voice coming out more of a rough bark than anything truly intelligible. It was clear he didn't talk very often, for his voice had that gravely, unused quality to it, like a dry river bed during the drought. Yet he didn't think this one was the kidnapper. Her fear wafted from her so strongly even he, with his fractured attention, could tell she was far from the deviant, sly creature needed to commit such heinous crimes. Yet still, she was a stranger on the edge of his pack's home and and he would be truly lost if he let such a thing go unchallenged and un-examined.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:01 am
Kaiya did not move from her hiding place, she merely tried to make herself smaller, if that was possible, " Please," her voice was timid, more prey then predator, " I just need a place to pass the night. Its cold, and I am hurt. Only until dawn, then I will leave. I have nothing to offer you in trade, but if you trust my word, I will hunt in the morning, pay my keep."
Deep in the darkness of the crevice she had wedged herself into he could see the brightness blue eyes, free guile or cruelty. It was all he could see, for she truly was as dark as the shadows night offered the rocks she had wedged herself into.
If he was going to pull her out, he would get a maw full of wicked teeth and no doubt some good clawings to the face. scared and hurt she might be, but she wasn't going to leave herself defenseless.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:09 am
The first emotion to sweep through him was relief that he didn't have to fight. For although he had the skills, his body was weary, drained of all energy despite being in his prime. The trails of the past few weeks had taken a heavy toll on the crimson-eyed male. Then he truly registered her words and while the tension eased from his body, he drew a heavy, worn sigh. Why did it always seem as if the world was playing a huge joke on him? First, Silvamord turned up and stole his oldest friend, then they had pups who promptly got kidnapped, and now, on top of everything else... fate had dropped an injured female in his paws. He knew he could not ignore her, he still had honor despite what the pack thought of him... and if she was hurt, he could not just abandon her with a clear conscience.
Sighing, head dropping with the weariness that pressed down upon his shoulders, he motioned to the weak moonlit path in front of the rocks. "If you come out I can tend to your wounds. I mean you no harm." His voice seemed resigned, empty of any kind of energy or even animation, a flat, toneless voice that was almost too faint to truly hear.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:22 am
The female knew that tone, and knew the look in the male's eyes. It matched her own far to well. She laid her head on her paws and looked at him with those bright blue eyes. Kaiya felt a sudden sorrow, not just for what she saw in him, but for what she saw in her self, and hid her nose under one paw so he would not see the tears that wanted to fall.
Here they were, atop a lonely mountain side, belonging to nothing and no one, what was the point?
" I believe you.." she whispered softly to him, " if you had, you'd of attacked me, or just blocked the entrance with a bigger rock.
" I'd rather you didn't help me, and just let me rest. Because if you help, then...well then I'll just have to move on in the morning, and I'd rather not know you. I'd rather just let the loneliness stay, then ease it any. Numb is better, if not..well a shallow dive off your mountain dosen't look so bad.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:35 am
As she spoke, he felt his own sorrows deepen, a feeling of intense helplessness that he had be trying to ignore for far too long. What if the pups were never found? Daktari would be forever wounded by their loss and saddled with a mate who would only be even more insane than she already was... Kimya flinched at the image of an even crazier Slvamord, for she as plenty cracked already.
Blinking he watched the young female hide under her paw, his chest tightening not just for himself, but for her and all of those like them, broken, beaten by an uncaring world. "I can not.... Even if I wanted to, I can not leave a stranger alone so close to our pack." ears down he seemed to struggle to find enough energy to continue, yet there was a tenderness buried deep in his voice that spoke of a male who had once been a warm creature benighted his shadowy coat, a carer and provider...
He couldn't explain about the pups, didn't want to bring himself to touch that sensitive and destructive topic if he could help it. But he still couldn't just leave her. "I understand, truly." Closing his eyes he took a breath, struggling to find way to handle the situation that wouldn't make her suicidal. "You don't need to come out.. I can stay out here. So long as I can see where you are." Pausing he lifted his head, gaze dropping away to fall down the mountainside, a deep longing and need etched into his expression for a brief moment. His hunt would have to wait a night... Daktari would not want him in any more trouble than he already was, nor would he abandon a female in need.
Turning back he sighed softly, dull crimson gaze returning to the female. "Would that suffice?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:58 am
" You're like me aren't you," Kaiya said softly, " not wanted, not belonging, or something close to that. I can see it in your eyes. I bet they were lovely once, that they sparkled when you laughed, or even when you just found something amusing. Did you know I was raised by a family of hares, then some merekats? A few others along the way too. Funny huh? Leaves you know were to go once you get old enough to eat the neighbors." She gave a chuckle.
"Do you miss her?" Kaiya asked out of the blue, " the girl, the one you hang around for? I mean I'm just guessing, but somethings cross species boundaries and one of my hare brothers had your haggered look and it was because the female he loved choose another and Rif couldn't stand to leave the warren, so he stayed. You have that look."
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:12 am
Her sudden flurry of speech, so strange to ears only used to the muted whisperings behind his back, made his mind stumble, jerked from his internal worries and out to the conversation with someone who wasn't simply muttering abuse, or intent on ignoring him.
After a long moment of simply string at her, he slowly managed to get his scattered thoughts into some kind of pattern, fragile though it was, and found his disused voice at last though it was uncertain, rusty from neglect and an old, tired pain. "They mated with each other and were gifted a litter by the gods... only the pups were kidnapped. What I want does not matter... only the pups matter now." His head lowered, gaze landing on his worn and battered paws yet they did not see the tattered fur, blunt and split claws or the cracked and blistered pads... Behind his eyes the vision of Daktari and Silva lived on, curled up together in their den as they struggled to find comfort as the news of their pups being taken shattered their lives, Kimya on the outside, looking in, helpless to do anything for the one he loved.
Finally he seemed to pull himself back out of the living nightmare and returned that worn gaze to her, the pain bright and fresh within it. How long had it been since he looked at another, or had been seen by them? It felt strange, as if the security of his dulled distance had been stripped away, leaving him raw and naked before her gaze.
Vulnerable. It was an unwelcome sensation.
Swallowing, his voice thick with emotion, he turned his head away, tail low against his rump. "I don't deserve such concern as you offer... I am just the Shadow."
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:29 am
Kaiya looked down at her own paws, so like his. They could have traveled the same roads. Broken and cracked, bleeding both inside and out. She reached out with one of them, showing him how badly abused it was, a match to his own, " At least you had someone to even love you once. To give you a name that was theirs to give."
She scooted forward just a bit more, showing she truly was as black as the night sky with the faint trace of a shooting star behind her ear, very lightly, she touched her nose to his, then made to retreat back into the crevice she planned to spend the night in.
" Every one deserves some comfort, even those like us. It comes in moments like this, when neither one of us will ever see the other again, and on nights, when we both are lonely and cold, there may be a shared memory that might let us remember we are not alone in this outcast state, and there maybe hope. Even if its just the memory of a battered and bleeding paw someone else shared."
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:41 am
Worn gaze lifted to the paw that stretched out to his, taking in the sorry state, a mirror for his own pain. Slowly, almost warily, he looked up, watching as she came forwards, revealed a little more of herself in the weak light of the sickle moon. The brush of her nose against his own startled him, crimson eyes widening a little, unseen tears sliding to moisten his dirt-streaked fur on his cheeks. After a moment he closed those pained orbs, a deep, harsh breath rattling from his ragged body in an expression of defeat.
"The loneliness is the worst... empty nights and even emptier days... No one to stand at your side, to share happiness with, to help shoulder the burden when sad times come..." Opening his eyes again he looked back at her, expression so lost and vulnerable he seemed a pup again, innocent and wounded.
"Let me stay this night... we can share our warmth and our burdens just for a little while... Just until the sun rises again... no one should be alone tonight." he worried for her as much as himself, she was as broken as he was yet she was alone, no pack, no matter how hostile, were there for her, no den to call her home, no Fire-coated dream to giver her a reason to continue...
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:52 am
Kaiya nodded, slide over, letting the lighter colored male in beside her. She didn't care how this night ended, or what it came to be, all she was glad for was for some one, some thing to hold her, to curl around her..to wake up beside her.
One night to feel like she belonged...somewhere..anywhere...the loneliness could rear its ugly head later, tonight at least..tonight she could have something, even it was borrowed from someone else.
She looked up at him with those bright blue eyes, and touched his nose again with hers, gentle and soft, " No..no I don't want to be alone tonight. Just...just one night, hold the loneliness at by for me Shadow. Just this one night."
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:45 pm
Silently he joined her for there was no need for further words between them. Each had their own wounds, their own agony, and yet they understood the others pain, understood how hard it was to keep going each day, to continue to live while the wight slowly crushed them of life.
Settling beside her he curled his larger body round her, ignoring the sharpness of her spine against his own ribs as they huddled, two broken souls in the darkness. Tucking his muzzle in the tattered fur of her neck he sighed softly, letting the tension that had filled his body fade slightly under the press of her warmth. Just one night, one night of escape from the crushing loneliness... surely they both deserved that much...
"Sleep, little one." He murmured softly, his rough, broken voice gentled, reassuring as he draw her against him, held within the protective circle of his body, for all that he was thin and neglected, he was still a warrior, still in possession of the abilities his origins had given him. Fighter, warrior, protector...
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