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 Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 7:37 pm
A reason, She whispered in Remye’s ear. To become more as you are.
Remye was confused by this, but found her feet taking her further to the statues regardless, staring up at them with a confused expression on her stony, shadowed face. She had been fighting, trying to clear out some of the debris of the Ruins, helping others to learn to fight. It hadn’t all ended well, but when she was summoned to the Shrine, well…
Her loyalty was to the Goddess, first and foremost.
But something wasn’t right. The pillar that had, at one time, held another statue (though she cannot clearly recall it ever having been there) was empty. Or was she mistaken? Remye tried in vain to clarify this but her memories were still at best weak and at worst not entirely her own, not in this head.
Her questioning was silenced as the Goddess beckoned her closer.
Or so it goes.
She turned to face the Goddess, her own core glowing faintly in comparison to the blinding light of Her. The instrument was an odd one, with wires that seemed to dissipate in the fog around them. Remye took the bag as it was handed to her, clutching it close to her core. A gift, not a blessing but an actual gift. She picked up the key, tail wagging behind her in elation at getting to open her present.
But there was nothing inside after she opened it. Her shoulders fell somewhat, tail slinking behind her.
It’s okay, I can fix this.
With her help. Remye nodded without consideration. Of course, more parts, she could help the Goddess. It was what she was created for, to do this for her. The mention of special labs made her wary, but nonetheless, this was necessary for the Goddess. The sliver of a girl – ghoul? No, no that wasn’t right – took the scissors as they were offered, looking up. “Th-the heart?” She inquired, her expression squinting in on itself in confusion. “But—“
They don’t need theirs after all.
Her own core seemed to sink at the idea. They didn’t make it. With a solemn nod, Remye walked to the thin opening that waited for her. She stepped inside, her own core seeming to pulsate with the steady thunks. It would be fine.
Really.
Through the door, Remye looked around. The only thing of interest in this room, really, were the doors. She gravitated between the three, touching the edge of the doors, one in time. The first felt… warm. Simple. It would no doubt be easy to pick this door but was that what the Goddess wanted? An easy path?
She moved to the second. This door felt… worrisome, unnerving. She swallowed a little, considering running back to the first door and taking the easy way out.
No.
Sucking in a breath, steadying herself, and clutching the scissors in her hand, Remye went through the third door.
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Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 8:23 pm
Remye stepped through the door, terrified but determined. The atmosphere of the room was dark and horrible. She wanted to turn back, and turned to do just that, to try the first door where it wasn’t quite so scary and she wasn’t quite so certain of death, but the door had slammed shut behind her and there was no proper way out. Not now. She would have to venture forward. The darkness was settling in around her and she could hear something… Over, and over again, as though it were being changed. It wasn’t her own name, though. What was it…
Jackson. Jackson. Jackson.
Who was Jackson? Remye swallowed hard and carried onward, feeling her way down the stairs by practically crawling, feeling for one step, than another. It was slow going, this way. And it seemed the path was never-ending. The darkness didn’t help; she could no longer see how far it was to go forward or back, and could only fumble onward through the hallway. Finally, Remye felt her way into an obstacle. She frowned a little, feeling along it curiously. What was it? The thump seemed to be coming from inside.
Thud.
It was a crate. And unfortunately for Remye, the crate was in her way. Didn’t the Goddess say something about this, though? She felt her way from the bottom of the crate to either side, trying to gather information on the size of this massive obstacle in her way of continuing onward. Her hands felt the top, and… Something was sticking out.
She frowned a little, wiping her hands on the crate (to no proper avail, since the whole crate seemed to be covered in sticky sick red something), and reached out to grasp the odd object. An arm. It was an arm. The thudding stopped when she touched it, and briefly Remye panicked about possibly breaking it. No, no it was fine. She swallowed hard, hands shaking even as she felt around the arm. Soft, firm, and a little warm. Remye briefly entertained herself by trying to imagine this soft, pliable mush in a box, what would it look like if the light was on?
Then she heard it. The thump-thump of a heart. The part her Goddess had needed, had asked her specifically to find. She was struck briefly with a sudden clarity: “They don’t need theirs after all… they didn’t quite make it.”
This thing, whatever it was… Was it suffering? It was stuffed into a crate, barely fitting inside it, thudding and –
The first cut was made without Remye actually being aware of it. Her hands moved of their own accord, cutting through into the hard, but the creature was not having any of it. The hand she had briefly held with reverence clawed at her, making her shriek and jump back. But that wasn’t her screaming, no.
It was… Whatever that was. The figure in the crate. She stared at it, startled, shaking hard. “Y-you’re not going to scare me off!” She said finally, in a weak, pathetic voice. Remye pulled herself up, and continued her extraction of the heart, trying to focus on that.
But something was off. As she cut, the memory wound its way into her heart, forcing her to see it.
“Ah, c’mere, you!”
A squeal of laughter, high-pitched, as a little girl bolted away from a big, burly hulk of a man. He gave chase, catching the pup and throwing her up into the air. “I got’cha!”
“Dad, put me down!” The young child squealed, kicking as she was thrown in the air again, laughing.
Her father just laughed, throwing the child once more before cradling her to his chest. “My li’l pup.” He cooed, nuzzling the top of her head. “C’mon, then. Let’s hear you howl, eh?”
“Aw, dad.” The child whined, burying her head in his neck. “I can’t! I tried, I told you!”
“Come on, once more.” Jackson urged, rubbing his nose against the child’s forehead. She eyed him warily, then sighed, and tilted her head back, sucking in a big breath.
One howl, pathetic and weak, barely more than a high-pitched whine, was slowly drowned out by the low, remorseful howl of another, older wolf. Like father, like daughter.
Remye pulled the heart out finally, shaking, and found herself leaning into the crate. Why was this memory evoking such an emotion? There was happiness, she could feel it, but her chest ached for it. She took the heart, grateful for the silence, the sudden stop of the memory, and placed it into the bag reverently.
It’d be fine. The Goddess would be pleased. She wiped her eyes, aware vaguely of the moistness from them that didn’t come from the crate, and moved past it.
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Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 8:46 pm
For a long while, Remye walked down the path, using the walls beside her to guide her way. It was still dark, terribly dark, but she knew the way back was blocked off. She could only go forward. It was a long while, or maybe not, maybe time just slipped away from her for a while as the memory replayed itself in her head, before Remye realized what was going on.
The floor beneath her feet didn’t give, but it wasn’t solid by any stretch. Pliant and almost… slippery. She looked around her, frowning as she felt her way. Suddenly, it was as though a wall came up out of nowhere. Dead end. She felt along the wall desperately, for some sliver or, or a turn, something to get her out of here—
Footsteps. Sloshing in the water. Where was the water coming from?
She spun around sharply, squinting through the darkness. There was nothing there, not that she could see much further than the hand in front of her face. She took a weak, shallow breath, and turned, sloshing through more water, trying to find something that wasn’t a dead end.
The water only got higher, and colder. Soon she wasn’t sloshing, but more like swimming, trying to find her way out.
“Please give it back.”
She yelped, dropping into the water before righting herself, and spun to face the accusatory tone. It was almost begging, but there was no source, no source, there was nothing there Remye. Shaking, though she tried to tell herself it was from the cold, she carried on her hunt. It was almost over her head, now, and like ice.
She turned to go back the way she came and as she turned, she felt the hands drag her back and under the water. She sucked in a breath to scream, and went under, struggling against the hands as they dragged her down.
“Give me back my heart.”
She tried to say she couldn’t, but the air was a crucial, vital thing. She stared up at the figure desperately, trying to convey her message via telekinesis, when another memory hit. Dad. This was her Dad. This was Jackson. Oh, Goddess, she’d—
“Dad, stop!”
“No, alright? Enough.” He snarled at her. “He’s done. Gone. He chose to leave, he can stay gone!”
“That’s not fair, he’s your son!” She argued viciously, ears back and tail twitching behind her. “He was just trying to help, Dad, he gets me!”
“I’m not having another kid wander off to play music and mooch off of the family! You’re going to school and that’s it! If I so much as smell his scent around here, I’ll—“
“You can’t tell me what to do, I’m not a child anymore!”
“You’re under my house, you’ll live by my rules, pup!” Jackson snarled. “Enough of this! Get upstairs before I give you the boot too!”
“Go ahead!” She shrieked in reply, stalking away with her tail between her legs as Jackson glared up after her.
She stared at the creature as her vision began to blur, kicking and trying to get free. She had to get out. It couldn’t end like this. She, she couldn’t end like this. The Goddess was dependent upon her.
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Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 8:51 pm
No choice. There was no choice in this. As consciousness wavered, and regret and hurt and the ache began to give way to just… Nothingness… The scissors. The scissors were still in her hand. Remye’s arm moved before she was aware of it, and had she the thought, she would have screamed and stopped herself. Anything was better than this. What she’d done. What she’d done to Jackson.
The scissors plunged into the – into him, and there was a shriek and then suddenly nothing. She gasped as she sat up off the ground, choking and spitting the last of the water, dark and putrid as it was spat onto the ground. She looked up blearily at the source of light, scrambling up to race to it. She had to get out, her tail tucked between her legs.
She turned to the door and froze, momentarily thrown. Was that… No. No, it couldn’t be. Shaking down to her core, Remye ran to the door and threw it open, escaping from the secret lab the Goddess had sent her into.
As the door shut behind her, she sunk against it, crumbling as she slid down to the floor. She pulled her knees to her chest, tears pouring down her face. What had she done? For what? What present could possibly be worth… this? It was a long, long moment before Remye moved. But eventually she had to.
She rose on shaky legs, and headed up to the shrine to return the figure—Jackson’s heart.
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:05 pm
Eat or be eaten. That is the way of it here.
Remye suppressed a terrified shudder when the Goddess circled her, feeling all too much like prey than predator. She tilted her head to address the Goddess, and glanced down at the blade that was pressed into her palm. It wasn’t something she was accustomed to; her own spear gave her at least a bit of distance, but it would be necessary. She tightened her grip on the handle, eying the claw with a soft snort.
She watched, entranced, as the blade began to rust, to almost a dark, stained color. Like her own core, it was almost yellowed, but not quite. She glanced up, following the Goddess’s gesture, eying the thin opening that would move her onward. She glanced back only once on her walk to the door, staring up at the Goddess’s glowing gaze. She inclined her head slightly, swallowing. “Kill or be killed.” She said softly, looking at the thin opening. “Right, then.” Remye stepped through, into the new area.
That is the only way you will become stronger.
The first thing Remye was aware of upon waking was how odd it was, waking up when she hadn’t recalled falling asleep. She had stepped through the opening, but her recollection of the events after were gone. She squinted, glancing around her, and sat up slowly, looking down at the table. The lights made everything harder to see, somehow, so bright they almost seared. She squinted, rubbing her eyes blearily, and slid off the table, leaning into it heavily until her feet got the message to move.
She glanced around the room, ears pressing against the top of her head against the humming beacons above her. There was only the walls and ceiling, no descriptive essence to the room save herself and the table. The brightness of the room was almost blinding but through her bleary gazing, Remye made out the outline of a door. Remye stepped towards it carefully, nearly falling into it as her feet gave way under her.
She opened the door, hoping for a break from the light but receiving none. Squinting against the brightness, she stepped out into the hallway. SLAM!!! The sliver of a girl jumped, spinning around sharply enough that she threw herself into a wall, and blinked slowly. The door she’d come through was still open. She swallowed, eying it warily for a long moment, and then turned, continuing onward.
The hallway was much like the path before, though she could at least see now. It stretched on infinitely, though in the far distance she could see something amiss. An exit. Some way out of this hallway. She continued down it, leaning less on the wall as she recalled just how her feet worked.
Thud.
She jerked, looking back sharply, and was dimly aware of a paranoia setting in that somehow, this had happened before. Something similar had happened before, and hadn’t ended well. Still, there was nothing there. Remye swallowed hard, tail slinking down, and turned back, walking a few steps further before she heard it again.
Thud.
She looked back again, expecting to see nothing. But there was something there. She started, eyes widening a fraction. Something was there, some—somethings were there, watching her, waiting. She could make out the steady thud of footsteps, and a scraping sound.
The scissors.
Why did that remind her of something?
She scrambled backwards, spinning around and forcing her legs to run, carry her far away from these creatures, she had to get away before they got to her. She reached the door faster than she had expected, at least, nearly running into it in desperate hopes that it would just fling open and she could escape inside.
Passcode? What was a passcode? “Oh Goddess.” She swore, looking back anxiously as she looked around for some sign. She looked around, panic quickly gripping her chest as she realized that somehow this wasn’t going to end well for her. Suddenly, as she scrambled in a panic for some sign of the pass code, a memory triggered in her mind. She looked back at the figure quickly gaining purchase on her, shaking, and recalled with terror another scene entirely.
“You’re not getting away from me! I’m your father, get back here, Em!”
“You can’t make me stay here! You can’t make me be like you! I’M NOT YOU!”
“YOU’LL DO WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE PACK! We survive TOGETHER!”
Distance: 35 ft
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:11 pm
”Stupid little pup. Come home little pup. Give it back, give what you took back, Little Pup.” The figure was taunting her, each jab cutting into her chest. Why was this hurting her? She hadn’t done anything, hadn’t attacked anyone to deserve this. What was happening? What was she supposed to do? She sunk against the door, putting her head against it to avoid looking at the shadow.
If she didn’t look, she wouldn’t be afraid. That’s all. That’s all it was.
As she sunk down, Remye squinted, and saw something in the corner of her eye. Desperate, she snatched the stained paper up, reading the letters on it. But what did that mean? She looked up at the keypad quickly, shaking. Numbers. They were numbers. She needed numbers, not letters! She almost ripped the paper up, but stopped herself, a choked noise bubbling forth before she could catch it.
She just had to figure out the numbers. That’s all. It was easy. She glanced back, and whimpered at how close it was getting. She didn’t have a lot of time.
Distance: 30 ft
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:18 pm
She scrambled, trying to figure out the code, and even started to just push random buttons, simply as a way of escaping. She looked back, whimpering as her tail slunk between her legs and her ears flattened against her head, trying to block out the taunts.
Little pup, little pup, let me come in.
It only hurts for a second.
Fair is fair.
She wasn’t sure what the figure was speaking about, but she knew that they wanted something in return. The heart. The one she’d taken. She shook as she tried pounding on the buttons, unaware that tears were what blocked her vision and not the light. “Come on, come on, come on!”
Distance: 25 ft
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:20 pm
It wasn’t hard to panic at this rate; it was practically breathing down her neck, she could feel it, and shuddered as she pressed against the door, trying to put some miniscule distance between her and the figure as she mashed on the buttons to no avail. She sunk her head against the door, praying to the Goddess, hoping someone would help her.
Her head ached as another memory forced its way into her brain. She sobbed weakly at the force of this one, all blurry images and the feeling of loneliness, the isolation, the cold anger she felt to the figure as this memory wound its way into her heart. “Please, please,” She pleaded to the empty hallway, trying again in vain to open the door.
“Please let me out, let me out!” She screamed, punching the pad in frustration and looking back as the figure came ever closer, the rusty scissors scraping along, coming right for her chest. Kill or be killed. She didn’t want to be Prey.
Distance: 20 ft
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:26 pm
The button mashing wasn’t working and she looked around, hoping for another little miracle, a piece of paper that would explain the stupid christing letters, but no, there was nothing, only her and her impending death and she would not go down lightly, not without a fight.
She snarled desperately, punching the code and pushing against the door, but neither the pad nor the door gave weight. She was dimly aware of the figure and how close it was; the taunts were less whispered and more franctic, loud and pointed and stabbing into her core for reasons she wasn’t certain of.
“Could have been the Alpha. Should have let the pack, but no, you had to go off and play with that useless whelp!”
“Such a disappointment. Broke my heart, broke your Ma’s heart, wish we never had another pup.”
“Shut up!” She snarled, rounding on the figure, pressed against the wall but ready to take her death in a fight. “Shut your mouth, shut up!” She wasn’t sure why, but every word cut through her core like a knife, it ached and she wanted it to stop.
Distance: 15 ft
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 4-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:31 pm
She turned back to the door, and as she turned, Remye’s eyes lit on the paper. “Yes! ********, yes!” She swore, yanking it up and eying the paper. Her fingers mashed the buttons quickly, and she escaped through the door, taking advantage of the new space to put distance between herself and the Figure, barely taking in the fresh air of being out of the sterile hallway. She broke through the first line of trees, panting, and slunk against them.
She wasn’t sure why, but instinct felt this was right. This was good. Trees would shield her from the figure, she could dart between them. She glanced back, grimacing when she realized They were still following her, and continued her run. Remye wasn’t sure what the taunts were about, though she could hear the snipping of the rusty scissors and the snapped, almost snarled responses.
“Tit for tat, pup!”
“You took mine, now it’s my turn!”
“Let’s make a trade!”
“It only hurts for a second!”
Remye suppressed the shudder as she bolted through the woods, coming to a sharp crevice and a rickety old bridge. She looked back, swallowing hard. Only one way forward. She looked at the bridge warily.
Distance: 30 ft
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:39 pm
Remye wasted little time in running out onto the bridge. Her haste would inevitably be her downfall, as she stepped onto a rickety board and it gave way under her foot. She fell with a shriek, and scrambled, trying to pull her foot free. She glanced up quickly, realizing how close the Figure was.
What do wild animals do when they’re trapped?
They chew off their own foot to get away.
Luckily, Remye didn’t have to get her mouth dirty. The rusted dagger would suffice. She dug it out, and tried to hack through the ankle in one go, but it didn’t work. She screamed as the pain laced up her side, and tried again, sawing rather than hacking. The second slide went through, and she stumbled back, hopping up and hobbling along the bridge, trying to save some distance that had been lost along with her foot.
It was regenerating, but this hobbling would cost her serious distance.
Distance: 25 ft
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:47 pm
Remye cleared the bridge much faster when her foot regenerated, but nearly fell off it as the wind sharply swayed the bridge. She felt the claws, and snarled low, reaching back to smack at the figure as it dug something sharp into her back. She shrieked, kicking blindly, and yanked herself away, running across the bridge and kicking up dirt as she gained purchase.
The snipping followed close behind, but she focused on getting further from it, trying not to hear the taunts and the snipsnip of the rusty blades aching for her blood. Not today. She was not dying today.
Distance: 20 ft
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Duke of Donut rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:53 pm
Suddenly, her dagger began to glow. She looked down at it, momentarily transfixed, and swallowed hard. Eat or be eaten. It was now or never. Remye bared her teeth as it neared, snarling, and lunged at the figure at the same time it struck at her with the scissors.
The scissors gained purchase first.
Remye’s eyes widened, a choked noise bubbling forward as she dropped back, eyes sliding shut. They only slid shut for a moment, and when she opened them, she stared blearily up at the blackened, disfigured body. Her mouth was moving, but her throat felt dry.
“No… No, please.” She tried to plead, but she couldn’t move. Her whole body felt numb and yet entirely there. “Please, ‘m sorry.” She couldn’t figure out if her thoughts or her words were bubbling forward, only aware of a sick noise in the background; gurgling, like drowning.
And a distant thudding sound.
She looked down as far as she could, staring at the heart as it beat in the hands of the disfigured body. It’s face was speaking, almost tenderly, almost mocking. “Don’t worry,” It – He soothed, and she almost felt like something was touching her hair. “It only hurts once.”
Her body would have jerked at the sound if it could, and she made a noise at the back of her throat as the pain laced through her body. Soon, though, that was gone as well. She stared, through quickly deadening eyes, as the figure walked away, carrying the scissors and her Heart.
“’m sorry,” She murmured, or thought, as her eyes lost their focus. “I’m so sorry.”
Dad. It was her Dad. She’d taken his heart. It was only fair that he took hers in return.
I’m so sorry.
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 11:29 pm
When Remye appeared to the third Goddess, she was not…quite expecting the excited smile and the beckoning cookies on a tray. She smiled a little, stepping forward and eying the fidgety deity with a smile. “Thank you,” She muttered as she took a cookie, nibbling on the edge lightly as the Goddess spoke, asking briefly of her other tasks.
“Oh, uh,” She shrugged, but before she could answer the Goddess had moved on. Did she love her? Well, of course. She was Goddess, who else could she be so loyal to? But her ears flattened as confusion laced her brain. A tea party? What? Remye looked up, cookie forgotten in her hand, as the Goddess beckoned to a gate behind her.
Go on, she was insisting. Remye nodded slightly, swallowing. A new task, then. Very well. She ventured past the Goddess, and through the hedged arc, glancing back and waving the cookie with a soft smile before she disappeared into the grey foliage to whatever lay waiting on the other side.
On the other side, Remye was aware of an ambient, beautiful sound. Her ears perked straight up to catch the melody as it played, chiming with voices and bells. It felt familiar, and… Well-missed? Nostalgic. It was a nostalgic tune. Moved past the music, Remye walked towards the table, frowning softly at the odd crunching beneath her feet. How unusual. Remye actually bent forward, some, to examine the imprints of her feet as she stepped.
How odd!
Still, the important features obviously lay ahead. She straightened up, eying the table ahead of her. There were two jars waiting for her, and without touching them she could almost… feel the happiness of the pink jar. Happy, warm, and fondness. The other jar, a beautiful blue one, was sad and unresolved. She’d had too much of those.
Remye picked the pink jar up, eying the label on it and blinking owlishly. Drink Me. Alright… She opened the jar, and drank its contents. Warm, familiar, soft happiness settled in the pit of her stomach, spreading to every inch until even her fingers and toes wiggled with Happy Feelings. She grinned a little, unaware of the table as it span. So the sudden addition of cloth and snacks made her jump back with a yelp, staring at it owlishly.
The cake called to her more than the cookies, perhaps because of the rich icing. Who doesn’t like cake? Smiling, she took a slice, and took a bite of the cake. Euphoria flooded her senses, and she leaned into the table as she ate another bite of the cake. Oh, her head almost ached with the happiness and pleased feeling. Glancing around, she spotted the tea cups, and smiled slightly. A drink, definitely necessary.
She picked up the golden cup, taking a gulp of it. Pride seemed to replace euphoria as a memory was leaked into her mind. She felt strong, empowered. She had accomplished something, something no one had done. The memory showed her that. Something no one had done in her family.The Hunt The woods around their house was, for a long, long time, decidedly off limits to the pup. Emery would traipse the scented line Jackson placed for the pups banned from wandering off the family grounds, occasionally toeing a paw over the line before running back, as though her father would descend to rip her a new one. She would watch with the other pups, her cousins, as the adults leapt over the line to take part in the hunt, and wait anxiously for the no-doubt successful return of her father, hauling some carcass or another for her mother to tend to.
It was her eighth birthday when Jackson had approached her mother. She listened, tail wagging behind her, as the two adults discussed in no uncertain terms just when Emery would be ready to try her hand at the hunt. It was a rite of passage for the pack; it allowed the pups their first taste of blood on the run, and it helped establish a pecking order of Hunter, Gatherer, or Other in Jackson’s neatly compartmentalized life. Her mother argued vehemently against it; she was too young, and none of her sisters had been successful at such a young age. Jackson argued for it, both as a father wanting his daughter to excel and as Alpha, recognizing that this was a key age for the pup to try her claw at it.
A few days after Emery played witness to this argument, Jackson roused her from bed one night. “Come on, runt,” he muttered, nudging her awake. “It’s time.”
The forest was large and, past the safe scented line of familiarity, terrifying. The pup was aware of just how massive the forest was and in all this, somehow, her task was laid out clearly for her: Hunt. Stalk prey, bring it down, and bring it back. This was about proving herself, not just to Jackson but to her mother, to the rest of the pack. Emery was aware, even at this youthful, impressionable stage, just how important this was. “I’ll be behind you, kid.” Jackson was saying, laying a heavy hand on the back of her neck, patting her back lightly. “But you bring it down yourself.” He smirked, leaning down and licking the top of her head. “Do me proud, kid.”
Emery nodded shortly, swallowing, and slunk to four paws, disappearing ahead of Jackson into the woods. Jackson disappeared somehow in the woods around Emery, and suddenly she was very much alone. For a long, long time, the pup wandered aimlessly through the woods, trying and failing to pick up a scent. She’d only really been introduced to the concept of recognizing Mom and Dad and Brother and Sister. Out here everything smelled… strong. The trees, the fog, the heaviness of night, the mud, the muck –
Rabbit. Emery wasn’t sure how the scent equated to that, but she knew what it was, and it was nearby. She slunk her belly to the ground, suppressing the budding growl as she stalked the scent over broken branches and the bramble of the forest floor. The white fur stood out against the black-green backdrop of the forest floor. Instinct more than skill spurned the pup forward, her ears perked up to listen as she slunk towards the rabbit.
Her paw pressed against a branch, tragically, and it snapped, sending the rabbit running. Snarling low, Emery took off after it, thinking only on the rabbit and not on everything riding on this hunt. So close, so close, so close, so close—
The rabbit’s tragic mistake was turning, sharply, to throw the pup off. Anticipating this, Emery leapt over a fallen log at an angle, turning sharply and lunging when her paws hit the ground, tackling the rabbit with her front legs and bringing it down. She ducked her head down, snarl cut off as her jaw clamped down on the rabbit’s neck. With a sickening crunch that felt all too good, Emery shook the rabbit, cracking its neck and reveling in the hot, sickly sweet blood that flooded her senses.
Dimly, Emery was aware that the task had been accomplished. She had to return to Alpha. The young wolf picked up her catch and began the long trek home. Jackson was waiting there for her, just inside the line of Familiar Emery was so accustomed to being locked by. He grinned wide, crouching and catching the pup in his arms when she ran at him. “That’s my girl!” He crowed, taking the rabbit and examining it with a grin. “A clean kill. Very good, Em. I’m proud of you.” He said, licking the top of the pup’s head.
Emery grinned, clinging to Jackson and burying her head against his shoulder. She felt warm all over, a budding light soaring in her chest at the high of her first kill, her first hunt outside the family line. Proud. She’d brought down her rabbit, and Jackson was proud of her. Her tail wagged for two days straight, easy.
“Should be fun.” She murmured to herself, grinning. Off to poke through other heads, then.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 1:51 am
Tea Guest Log Colour of Tea Tasted: Pale Yellow Description: "The tea tastes warm, successful. The honeysweet stench of victory hangs around the tea in a pleasant way." Your commentary on its flavour: Igny could feel the girl's anticipation as her own. It was the hunt. It was so important that even outside of the memory, Igny could feel its claws sinking into her emotions. When the moment came, Igny cheered as though it had been her snapping down on the rabbit and not the girl. What a victory- what success! Igny felt decidedly better after drinking the tea. She only hoped she could be as courageous and skillful as the girl. She kept the memory in her steps as she went to sample other teas.
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