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 Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:32 pm
 Haki sat down in the grass happily, staring at his prize for all his previous efforts. Elephant meat. How often did you get to eat elephant? Why, most lions probabley didn't even get close to eating elephant before they died. No creature probabley did. For that reason, the little jackal's eyes were gleaming with pride. A sense of real accompishment, much more important than anything else he had ever done before. His tail wagged in excitment. See, most of the other partcipates of the hunt had already left the woods, leaving a mostly-eaten, decaying elephant body sinking the mud. Haki had been taking advantage of the remains, and had been feeding off it for about three days now. Ah, but it was so... So, different tasting then anything else he had eaten before. But a good different, not bad at all, just different. He felt It'd be a great waste to just leave even the remains there, and since he had nowhere to particularly be at the moment, he decided to stick around until there was no reason to stay.
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Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 6:55 pm
 Tahir had partaken in the feast once the elephant was taken down and the healer’s off dealing with the injured. He was a scrawny, emaciated animal, it didn’t matter to him where his meat came from, and he so very rarely got to eat anything fresh. But once the group had dispersed Tahir had gone off on his own as well. He had no friends here, and did not want to risk a run in with the leopards or baboons who lived here.
It was by chance that he saw Haki, the little blue jackal from the mission, still feeding on the carcass on a trip to catch another few bites of elephant. Even a pride of lions couldn’t finish off a carcass that big so quickly.
Haki, Tahir remembered, was the little jackal that had pushed him into the paint, had him covered from head to toe. He still hadn’t managed to get all the red guck out of his coat. It had matted tufts of his hair together and painted him all over with a maroon sheen.
That little jackal had to pay for what he did… and Tahir had a plan. But first he needed to gain the little fellow’s confidence.
So, on the third evening after the elephant hunt, Tahir loped up to the carcass and crawled his way to the top. He was silent and careful, moving like a shadow against the darkness of the jungle. Once in place he slid his forepaws along the belly of the old bull and dipped his nose just above the jackal’s head.
“Good evening, my friend. Getting your fill, are you?”
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 12:33 pm
Haki nearly jerked backwards when he first saw the mained wolf above him. But he didn't, he remained mostly calm. His ears simply bent down a little, threatening to flatten against his skull. He quickly went remembered the the wolf was, Tahir. At least, he was 80% confident that was his name. Just to be safe he wouldn't say his name yet. "Hello again! he said happily. "I hadn't expected anyone to come back here after the hunt." He sat in the mud, his white tail becoming stained in the liquid. He found there was no point in trying to keep clean near the carcass, after all if you didn't get mud on your paws, you'd certainlly get a little bit of blood on you. And Haki, was covered in both. His legs, up to his knees were covered in wet or drying mud. His ears had a few noticable scratches on it, but his back was caked in red. It was likely that it was just the red paint, but elephant blood was sure to get on his back somehow too. Either way, the little jackal looked like a mess...
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:02 pm
Happy to see him, how lovely. Tahir’s tail gave a lazy wag in response and he leapt down from the carcass, landing lightly in the mud. He was so slight and skinny his movements made hardly and ripple at all. He probably didn’t weight much more than the jackal, all in all. Tahir remained standing for now, his head cocked and a sly smile gracing his ugly maw.
“With so much food lying around, how could one not?”
He raked his eyes down the little jackal’s body, and his smile widened. This would help him in his plan, for certain.
“You look nearly as bad as I do, my friend,” he sauntered closer and lifted a paw toward Haki, meaning to drag the little jackal nearer,” Have you no mother to bathe you? No mate?” He wasn’t familiar enough with jackals to tell Haki’s age properly, but surely the little animal wasn’t a pup anymore. Tahir’s… lack of grooming had a far different excuse.
“There is clean water not far from here, a found a spring on my way out of this hell hole. I’ll bring you to it if you’d like to wash yourself of that mud… blood… filth.” CaliWolfe I made you a wee header if you want it. C:
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:20 pm
"Really?" Haki was slightly questionable of this spring. Then again, the mained wolf was a lot taller than Haki would ever be, it was more than likely that Tahir spotted the spring from a distance before going over for a more closer look. However, if this was true, why didn't he bother to clean himself off first? Did he not like being clean? Haki didn't mind being dirty for a while, but Tahir seemed like he hadn't been clean in... Well, bluntly said, a long time. He smelt like it too, but Haki wasn't going to just say something like that. He'd keep his thoughts to himself. He knew how insulted he'd feel if someone told him he smelt bad, he could only imagine how much worse it would be for Tahir. Or anyone for that matter. Still, he wasn't very opptimisic on the actuality of there being a spring. But then again, why would Tahir lie to him? He had no real reason to... Anymore...
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:44 pm
Tahir hadn’t been clean in a good, long while. And he would never be truly clean again, even if he washed himself a thousand times in his aforementioned ‘spring.’ He was always drifting in between fleas and ticks, covered in mud, dirt, blood, the gore of other animals. His paws, though black, would always be stained red, no matter how many times he washed them in streams. And his soul was as black as his pelt.
Nothing for it, though. He didn’t mind carrying his dirt and stink.
Tahir did mind the questioning warble in Haki’s voice. Did the wee jackal not believe him? What a pity. Although… considering his state, Tahir couldn’t begrudge him some hesitation.
“Oh yes. Very clean and fresh. I drank from it many times wandering through here, but I’m afraid it’s not very large. I couldn’t fit more than a couple legs into it at once. But you are just the right size, I think. How lucky you are, to be a jackal.”
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:57 pm
Oh, well that explained a lot then. Haki had indeed, tried washing himself in a small puddle once, didn't work out too well. He couldn't blame Tahir from not wanting to try such a method to clean himself. It was an awfully long process, and the results didn't seem to be worth the effort. "I'm only lucky sometimes." He slid his tail against the muddy surface it was resting on. "If I was as tall as you, I could probabley see better." In otherwords, not have to be carried around by leopardess' to escape deep mud. "Where's the spring? Maybe I wandered past it without noticing it." He hadn't explored much deeper than the elephant kill in the jungle, so he might not have even known it exisited like Tahir made it sound.
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:57 pm
“As are we all,” said Tahir, flashing his teeth in a splitting grin. He quickly shook the expression off, trotting about in a circle until his nose was pointing north,” It’s deeper into the jungle, I’m afraid, but easier to reach than any watering hole outside of the jungle. Fresher and cleaner too. These plants help filter out the mud and dirt. You’ll shine when you’re finished bathing.”
Without waiting, the wolf padded a few steps ahead, pausing at the edge of the thicker foliage,” It’s not terribly far. Would you like me to show you? When we’re finished, perhaps we can find some fresher meat to eat as well. Elephant is fine the first few days, but all meat rots, and the jungle speeds the process.”
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:37 pm
Haki's eyes seemed to light up. "Alright!" He got up and ran over to Tahir. Ah, so naive he was. Mostly no seconds about anything the wolf had said so far. Completely trusting in him, and now falling perfectly for his plan of revenge. Naive indeed. He kept nearest to the trees as the two walked, as to not sink in any mud holes. As stated before, he had already been through that once, and he was not going to get embaressly stuck again. "Think there are any leopards nearby?" He said out of mild curiousity. Mostly he was just striking up a conversation. Although, In Haki's mind, neither of the two seemed particularly interested in the disscussion of leopards' whereabouts...
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:55 pm
Ah, lovely. What a sweet, trusting little boy. Tahir softened his smile as the jackal approached, then tossed his head and began to move through the bushes. His long legs made travel over the plants easy, and his paws were so small, his limbs so gangly, that he had little trouble dancing across the mud.
“Oh, I’m certain there are,” he said,” But we’ll smell them long before they make their appearance. Have no worries, Haki. You’re safe with me.” How easily his lies dripped from his tongue.
They were nearing Tahir’s chosen spot, and the wolf slowed his pace to appear uneager. There was a smell of water, fresh and clean, but also mud and dirt. And blood. The sweet, deep scent of wood and bark. Honey-sharp sap. But the jungle was full of smells, none of those ought to seem out of place.
“And here we are,” said Tahir, shoving aside a thicket of green to reveal… well, a small pool of water! Look that that. The wolf wasn’t lying.
Not about the water.
But right before that sweet smelling pool he’d dug a hole. Not too deep, no, but deeper higher than his own head. The dirt was loose and the spring had fed into it, creating what appeared to be solid ground, but in reality, he’d made himself his own little pool of quicksand.
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 1:48 pm
The little jackal's tail wagged at seeing the spring. He could be nice and clean again now. He ran over to the spring to take a drink, unaware of the quicksand trap that was specifically perpared just for Haki. He had a grin on his face when- smoosh. His foot sunk into the ground. Huh? How'd that happen? He jerked himself backwards, only to find his hind legs sink as well. What? How was this happening?! He turned around and ran back to Tahir. Well, more like swimming back to the wolf than anything else. He attempted to latch his tiny paws onto solid ground, only to find they wouldn't. That the ground would simply disinagrate and turn into more quick-sand. "H-help!" He struggled some more.
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 2:23 pm
Tahir calmly tugged his feet under his body and wrapped his tail across his side. His head was cocked, his ears perked, and his mouth carefully devoid of smile. There was a delicious twinkle in his eyes though. Glee. He watch the jackal struggle, not moving a muscle of his own until it was clear the little canine was well and truly stuck. Then, finally he stood and tiptoed carefully closer to the sand.
“Oh my,” he said, a note of concern in his voice,” It seems you’ve fallen into some quick sand. What a pity. You really ought to watch your footing.” The last came out as a snarl, his yellow teeth gnashing.
“Oh yes,” he nodded to himself, inching one step closer, then two” I do remember this being here before. My b- ack!” The sand gripped his forepaws and dragged him down. He’d wandered too close! Panicking, Tahir splashed, which only succeeded in submerging him further. He gasped for air, eyes wide with fear.
What had he done?
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 2:54 pm
He was still mad at him for the red paint, wasn't he? Haki had made, well, mulitple mistakes on the big elephant hunting adventure, but none were quite as memorable than the little fox sliding down a hill right into Tahir's legs. Yep, the wolf was doing pretty good keeping himself mostly red-free, with the exception of his paws, when Haki came hurling down the hill landing them both in the liquid. Ah, great times. And look where those great times had lead him. Back to the situation at hand, Haki had learned that staying still was the easiest method to not sinking as fast compare to when you moved around. Still, he didn't say anything when Tahir panicked, up until he was completely under expect for his head. At that point, Haki become worried. Of all things to feel, after the greasy, scrawny wolf had lead him into this trap and he was worried about him. "Stop moving!" He barked. "If you move you'll only sink more!"By this point, Haki wasn't doing to well himself. Only his neck and head were still sticking in the air, the rest of him had disapeared into the ground. He scanned the area in search for something he could use to stay from sinking more. Anything would do at this point!
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:12 pm
“What do you know?” Tahir snapped, flashing teeth. But his struggles didn’t seem to be getting him anywhere. He could barely keep his muzzle above the surface, and even like this, his toes couldn’t touch solid ground. He was drowning. His heart pounded wildly with panic, his limbs thrashing to and fro. Eventually his head sunk under. He stopped, his eyes open and seeing nothing but stinging mud. He stilled himself, holding his breath, then gave one mighty thrust with his hind legs. His head broke the surface and he gasped madly for air.
“Forgive me,” he panting, trying to catch his breath,” I’ve never had the misfortune to fall into quick sand before.” Normally he was much smarter than that, but his desire for revenge had gotten the better of him.
Tahir didn’t want to ask for help, not from this scrawny jackal… but what choice did he have? He kept as still as possible, only wading enough to keep his head above the surface. There was a branch lying not too far from the edge of the quicksand, splintered down the middle. It was unlikely to hold Tahir’s weight, but perhaps he jackal…
No. If Haki got out first, he’d surely leave Tahir to die. The wolf jerked his gaze away, searching the area for something more substantial to grab onto. He wasn’t going to give the jackal the advantage.
Stubborn fool.
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 4:06 pm
Haki turned and looked around himself some more. Ah, tree branches. He forced himself over towards them, sinking a little deeper into the quicksand as he did. Finally, when he reached to branches, he reached out with his paws to grab one of them. This turned out to be not the wisest choice he had made. His paws were so small and short he only touched the surface of the branch he was aiming for before he fell back into the water. He sunk a little deeper with that action, and he had to struggle to not, well, struggle, and to keep afloat. "See anything we can use to get out of here?" He called over to Tahir, still searching the area he had moved too for another chance of escape. After he got himself out, he'd denfinitley get Tahir out too. As much as his trust in the wolf was shattered, he still didn't want him to just drown. Not only would Haki feel guilty the rest of his life, but if Tahir did manage to escape... Oh, Haki didn't want to think about something that wasn't going to happen anyways. He needed out of the pool, and preferably sooner then later.
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