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 Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:05 am
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:48 am
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Pale white and bloody red, a lioness crept through the tall waving grass with an air of the furtive, of one who does not wish to be seen. Her breathing came shallow and fast, to all appearances as though she was expending herself in some great effort, though she moved slowly. Bright red eyes flashed in the half-darkness, wild with fear and longing, hope and despair.
The sun was coming, yes. She could feel it over the hills, hiding, stalking her as one stalks prey, waiting for but a hair on her back to show above the grass to pounce, bursting into the sky to rain down fire that would scorch her to a greasy black smear on the ground... A squeal broke past her tightly clenched jaws and she froze, her eyes darting to find the source of the noise, unaware she was the one that had made it.
Why had she come so far from the safety of the soothing darkness? Why had she come so far into the realm of the searing light, leaving herself open and vulnerable? The thoughts chased themselves like butterflies around her head, darting and fluttering, erratic and without purpose. She couldn't catch them, couldn't pin them down or the answers that fluttered even farther from her reach. All she could understand was a deep longing, a yearning for something she couldn't name that drove her onward, farther and farther from her sweet, dark, comfortable world.
The leech paused, ears perking to catch the soft sounds going on about her, her whole body tensed and trembling.
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Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:17 pm
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Moyo hated being away from his twin, but there were just sometimes where they couldn't agree on which way to go. Well, there were a lot of things that they didn't agree on, but the point was they were brothers, even more they were mirror images of one another. There was no way they would let any disagreement get between them. It wasn't like they were too far from one another, if Moyo called, his brother would hear and vice-versa. In fact, if he stood on a hill, Moyo was pretty sure he could see Shairi... pretty sure.
He was hunting right now, trying out his tracking skills. It was so weird, Shairi was training under their mother and grandfather to be a Chiraku when he grew up and he was following in their father's footsteps to become a warrior.
He had no idea that fate would push him even stronger in that direction.
Mouse, mouse, mouse, he could smell it but where was it? The growing male was low to the ground as he made his way through the grasses, blue eyes sharp for trouble, but his nose the most alert. He knew he wouldn't be able to see a mouse, not in this low light, but he could smell it and hear it if he tried really hard.
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:46 pm
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The way Shai trembled shivered the air about her, making sure any small prey there was would keep its distance, sensing her deadly energy through their sensitive whiskers and skin. Eyes wide and staring, she froze at the sound of rustling nearby, turning her head to focus on the source of the nose.
Something small... but not too small. Heavy, so not a bird or a gazelle or some furtive beast of that kind. Movements were rough and untrained, hinting at the age of the one who made them. Hunger swept through the lioness and suddenly she was all deadly grace and eternal patience. No one knew how old Shaitani was, not even her beloved Drakul, but the way she hunted spoke of how long she had been doing it and the unnatural focus she put into it. This terrible hunter was but one of her many extremes and it crept towards the noise, dark-loving eyes picking out a pelt through the brush that didn't belong to a prey beast, her nose picking up the downwind to scent the life of another of her own kind.
A child... She stalked forward a few more steps before she stopped, a troubled and confused expression moving over her face. No... no, children were not for hunting like that. Children... children were...
The thought flitted away and she let out the tiniest moan of longing, her whole body starting to tremble again as she eased out of hunting mode. A child... a child... a sweet, beautiful child...
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:50 pm
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Great. Great, great, great, Moyo stopped stalking, having suddenly lost the trail of his prey. He sighed, sitting up and looking around. He couldn't see Shairi, or hear him for that matter. A chill ran up his spine, he missed his brother, it was almost sorta like he was missing a piece of himself. He had to wonder, did all twins feel like this, this kind of connection with their sibling.
But no, they were going their separate ways this morning, exploring apart from one another. And just because he'd lost his prey didn't mean he needed to bother his brother. What he should do was find something else to hunt.
He sat up a bit taller, ears perked and nose sniffing. There was a weird noise, but he could barely hear it. Maybe a mewl? Was there was even younger creature nearby? |
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:23 am
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Shaitani eased out of the camouflage of the grass with a soft, confused expression on her face. She approached this strange cub she had found slowly, as though unsure, her steps faltering a little.
"Hello? Um... excuse me, do you live around here?" For once, her voices were oddly coherent, her tone matching her expression in a rare moment of seeming lucidity. To all appearance, she was but a lost lioness, approaching another creature who might answer all her questions.
"I'm afraid I don't know where I am... And my cubs have gone missing. I... I can't find them anywhere. I could hear them calling for me, but I've looked everywhere and they're just... gone." She said, her soft voice breaking at the end of her explanation. There was a ring of truth to it, a sincerity and real heartbreak behind every word. She stopped just out of reach, non-threatening, her rounded ears back against her head. Her red mask stood out starkly on her white face, emphasizing her eyes and her concerned expression.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:05 pm
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Moyo frowned when the lioness suddenly approached him. She didn't look like anyone he knew, not even related to someone he knew. Maybe a relative of his grandfather, the red was apparently more common on his mother's side of the family than was evident in his siblings, aunts and uncles, or grandfather.
But... she didn't smell right.
But that didn't mean he'd show any signs of fear. He was growing up to be a warrior, after all!
"Cubs, cubs, you're gonna have to be more specific, lady. May have seen some cubs but they're not the ones you're looking for." Yeah, he was a bit of a brat, but he felt that without his brother around he needed to put on his tough-guy show even more than when they were together. Where was Shairi, anyways? It took a significant effort not to turn around to look for his "better half". |
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:52 pm
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Shai sidled around him with a jerky motion, moving around a circle with him at the center, her head lowering between her shoulders at his response. Her face saddened, her gaze turning inward and she drew a ragged little breath.
"Sweet, beautiful cubs... soft and warm and wiggling." Her voice broke at the end, her steps jerking and weaving now. It was a subtle change, a feeling of wrongness that was hard to pin point.
She fixed her eyes on him and froze suddenly, her expression shifting from sad to confused again. "Who are you? Where am I....? Where are my cubs..." Her head weaved side to side, but her eyes never left him, the motion almost snake-like.
How small he was, and so soft... so young. He reminded her of other small bodies, though the memory was shadowy and vague, the forms indistinct and hard to grasp onto.
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Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 12:24 pm
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The more time he spent talking to this lioness, the more Moyo wanted his twin, the more he wanted his mom and dad. Pride was one of the downfalls of the fire-maned young lion; he wouldn't call out in fear. He might turn tail and run, but for all he knew this lioness was faster. The way she moved, he worried she was mad, like his mother's "cousin". He probably wasn't supposed to know the story, but he was a sneaky little male.
And then it was as if something in her reset and she no longer knew where she was or who he was or where her cubs were. Moyo was starting to get the feeling that she hadn't actually lost these cubs, that she'd just forgotten what had happened to them. For all he knew, someone who wasn't mad had taken them away from her... if she even had cubs.
"I'm nobody and you're nowhere and your cubs are somewhere else." He didn't want to tell her who he was, didn't want to tell her where he lived. He took a subtle step backwards, changing his mind all of a sudden. He was ready to run. |
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Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:26 pm
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The white lioness froze when he moved, her gaze suddenly sharp and intense, predatory.
"Nobody, nowhere, somewhere else..." She trembled as she spoke, a smile curving her mouth. "Sweet cub... all alone in the world... I know a safe place, a dark place... a place where the Children are." A purr rumbled in her throat as she took a step towards him, then another. "Sweet child... Why did you run away? I'm so glad I found you... Promise you'll never leave me again..."
Her voice dropped as she got closer, turning soft and yearning. She'd found him, at long last... she'd found him and there was no one who could take him away from her.
Beyond them, the sky blushed as the sun threatened and suddenly Shai started to jerk and twitch, loosing her smooth grace as some part of her mind took note of the time. "We have to go, my love... The sun is coming... can't you feel it?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 9:16 am
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Moyo froze when she seemed to sharpen before his eyes. There was still a strange look in her eyes, as if her mind wasn't all there. But she looked clearer, determined?
"I'm not your cub, lady. And I didn't run away." He couldn't keep the growl out of his voice. Staying here was no longer an option, there was no way he was going to be able to talk his way out of this. She was too close now. He had to run. But she would catch him.
Without a second thought, he jerk his paw, propelling a pawful of dry dirt at her face before he turned around and tried to run home.
"Help! Somebody help!" he called out as loud as he could, running as fast as his paws would take him. If he could just get back to the camp, someone would be there, his father or grandfather or one of the other warriors. They would save him. |
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:24 am
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His paniced flight was like that of prey and like any predator the lioness surged into action. Larger, strong, faster, there was no question about the outcome of this contest. With a dip of her head, not even breaking her stride, Shai scooped the cub up in her mouth and was off, racing back the way she had come and away from the pride he had been so desperate to reach. She ran as though possessed, as though something terrible ran behind her, something she feared with every instinct she possessed.
He faced an uncertain future in the jaws of his captor. If his gods favored him, perhaps he would be found sooner rather than later and rescued from the nightmare she represented. If not, then the long, dark night had only begun.
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