|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:16 am
 Danger. This was a concept that did not particularly mean much to Last Night. She was not scared, for to fear without cause, to be afraid of something that may or may not be there, to worry about the potential, was beyond her. However, she also wasn't a thrill seeker. She did not deliberately seek or violence of danger. So she heeded the warnings that had been left on the trees. She walked close for that was where she was going, but did not stray past the warnings.
The sunlight cast dappled shadows across her body, giver her the look of one who was not quite there, not quite corporeal. There was a grace to her movements even as her eyes wandered from her path. Her antlers caught and swept drooping tendrils from her face as she walked between trees, finding her way around them. She seemed uncaring of the caiman rising and sinking into and out of view, shadowing her hoofsteps. Once Lost was no always with her, but she was always aware of when he was there by her hooves, following her wanderings.
She saw no danger in this walk, caiman stalking her steps.Sarano_Krem This was a lot of fun! We should do this again sometime!
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:21 am
Feral Storm saw the danger signs in the trees. Finally home, he carried the results of his hunt over to a large rock. As he placed them down, he caught sight of a scaled tail. Moving further down the tree line, he saw that it was nothing more than a caiman. Of course, he didn't expect to see it stalking a doe. It didn't even seem like she could tell it was there.
Following the girl and the stalking reptile, he decided that she must be silly in the head, like that bright colored acha he dealt with some time ago. He shuddered as he recalled the chance meeting. If she were anything like that acha, then she surely wouldn't be able to protect herself.
In the heat of the moment, he made a choice. He leapt out at the caiman, stopping it in its tracks and growled at it, preparing to strike if it came at him. He hoped that it would. Caimans make a nice meal.Amorpheous sorry about the wait, had some school things to deal with this past week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 12:39 pm
Once Lost stopped immediately, jaws falling open as he issued a warning hiss. Instinct said to attack, but his association with Last Night had turned that instinct into a swift attack when a foe struck first. Caiman and doe were actually much alike; in a fight, the foe must attack first, but in a hunt, then it was fair game. So he did not move to strike. When it seemed the kin in front of him would not strike, Once Lost shut his jaws with a snap and sunk out of view. Lost in the dark waters he had effectively disappeared until he reappeared under Last Night, just his head visible over the water.
The sudden movement had pushed Last Night into movement. Though it was a surprise, there was still a grace to the swing of her antlers through the air. She had been ready to strike out, but it seemed that what she had momentarily thought to be the danger that the warnings had foretold was not so. So she stood the poised for action, but relaxed because it was another kin. He seemed much more interested in Once Lost who was hissing in warning. He, like her, was perfectly capable of great violence, but the buck would have to attack first. Then her caiman sunk low into the darkness before coming back into sight beneath her, though she knew that more through feeling than actual. Only the slightest movement in her peripheral vision was needed to confirm that.
She stared at the buck calmly, her eyes cool and distant, but not unkind. He had moved first, so he would also have to speak first. Sarano_Krem Don't worry about it! c: And I linked to Once Lost since I realized that I forgot to include that in my first post.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:51 pm
The warrior buck felt a sense of pride in the belief that he had intimidated the caiman, before a strong wave of confusion swept over him at the sight of the very creature that sank into the darkness returning to the doe's side. They seemed to have a familiarity to each other, as if they traveled together. Why would a caiman hang around a kimeti? Feral Storm had seen some kin traveling alongside a caiman before, but he never understood why.
He eyed the caiman before looking to the doe before him, "I do not understand. Why isn't it attacking you? Or you it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 3:04 pm
It was easy to read the buck's emotions in the set of his body, perhaps not because he visibly emoted much more than other kin but because he felt his emotions clearly. While she saw him rather clearly, there was a vast openness to her eyes that saw past him, beyond him, around him, so that everything at once was upon her through her eyes, ears, and nose, pressing gently into her pelt in a comforting awareness that, for other kin, might overwhelm. She blinked a look down at the swamp floor where she could just see the tip of Once Lost's nose.
She tilted her head just a fraction, "Why should he? And why should I? To attack unprovoked gains us nothing."
She nodded at a tree marked by the symbol for danger, "Danger. It is all around us; to live life thinking in terms of it would limit us."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:08 pm
One thing Feral Storm could safely say was that this doe was intelligent. He watched as she stared at him, and through him, it seemed. "It's instinct." It was the only reason he could think of. "It's part of nature."
Then she began talking about danger, taking notice of the marking he left on the tree nearby. What did she know about danger? "Yes it is, and I am stronger for it."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:26 pm
"Is instinct necessarily good?" She asked, voice mild, imploring in some ways, but there was no force to her words other than a type of conviction. She understood his thinking, could see the symbols and her caiman through her eyes, could narrow her vision down to danger and what a single word could entail, but all around her the Swamp was expansive and vast and she could not help but see all of it. "And is nature not mutable?"
She looked right at him then, pale eyes so open as if she could face even the sun itself, "If to kill and to strike is good for it is instinct and nature, why not kill me? Would it not be good since it is instinct? Would nature and instinct make it right? If that is the reason why we must lash out unprovoked, then we are essentially dead."
"Stronger because there is danger all around us or because of your response to it?" She smiled distantly, just the faintest curve of an expression. "And what do you consider strength then? Perhaps a caiman who chooses companionship, who can resist the urge to bite and snap, is stronger than his kin who will day die alone."Sarano_Krem Don't worry about it! c: Ahhh, sorry about all the questions! Last Night sees the world a certain way, but also sees it every other kin's way, and she mostly just wants to see how other kin think and give other kin some food for thought.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:53 pm
The inquisitive nature of this kin had left him unable to respond for the most part. "I never said it was good."
He stood there starting to become lost in his head. He had never thought about these kinds of things before. His life, from the moment it began, was filled with danger. So far, the only thing that hadn't threatened his life had been other kin. For some reason, they weren't interested in hunting him. He always believed that it was only because they never knew the wilds he faced. That they never had a constant threat to their life during their youth. But now, the words of this doe had his thoughts changing ever so slightly.
Now he stood there, back in reality, listening just a little more intently to her words, "What do you think of instinct and nature then?"
On the subject of strength, his mind had always been clear. His survival had always depended on him being strong. He looked at the doe as she questioned his strength and let a smile loose, "Both." When she began talking of views on strength, his gaze fell upon the caiman, "How does companionship display strength?"Amorpheous I love the questions! I don't think Storm has ever been inside his own head before, even in non-RP circumstances. Also, question rebuttal!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:04 am
She nodded, accepting his correction, "Not good, but right, a justifiable reason to do something that has no gain."
Last Night watched quietly as the buck lost himself in thought. He seemed unused to being challenged in his way of thinking so she left him to his thoughts as her own spun out before centering back on the buck. She tracked his thoughts as if they were her own, opening herself up to his point of view, seeing the necessity of his world view to survival before spinning back into herself as he posed a question in return.
She always had immediate thoughts, but she rarely spoke them. They were the starting point for development and careful consideration, a seed from which flowers of thought would bloom. So she considered her words careful, a thoughtful, musing look on her face, soft even as Once Lost let out an impatient hiss. He wasn't as forgiving as she was of unprovoked attacks and would rather leave the presence of the buck. She made a soft sound, either of silencing or dismissal, it would be Once Lost's choice to stay; for now the caiman remained defensively under the doe's belly.
Instinct, Last Night could accept easily enough. Though she did not live by it, instinct existed for a reason; it kept one alive when reason and thought was not enough. She knew well enough that instinct could save one's life, though she did not necessarily agree that even if that case instinct was necessarily right or good for it left her without the decision of who's life was worth more, and even if a decision were to be made in the split second, invariably, it was impossible for a kin to devalue themselves completely in their own eyes. That, after all, was instinct.
In nature Last Night did not really believe. Nature implied inevitability when applied to a single kin; it denied the ability to change when it was so very clear, that as a whole, nature, if that was what drove kin at the most basic level, had changed very much. There was a reason kimeti no longer understood the concept of war when it featured so prominently in the old stories. So what did she think of nature? She did not think it existed in the capacity the buck in front of her did; she did not think it could sufficiently explain a kin's actions.
"Instinct is simply that: instinct. It is embedded deep in our memories, sunk deep in our bones, but it does not control us; it cannot control us because if we all lived by instinct there would be nothing to truly live for. Those symbols you have drawn on the trees is not instinct, it is shaped by consciousness, a realm the exists above and separate from instinct. It is shaped into our existence to keep us alive in the simplest sense. It is what drives me to gore a boar on my antlers when I am attacked, but it is not what compels you to preemptively strike out against caiman. It is what compels a kin to eat, but it is not what compels me to hunt." She paused then, regarding the buck solemnly. She was given both to succinct explanations when needed, but more often to something longer.
"Does nature exist?" She responded simply to the second part of his question. "Can it explain anything? Can it truly exist as the most natural, basic part of ourselves if we are all so different? Would you be exactly as you are if you did not have the same childhood experiences you did?"
"How is choosing companionship not strong? If to attack unprovoked is instinct and instinct is a strong enough force to one to act against gains, then is dominating that instinct not strength? And even without instinct, companionship requires trust and loyalty, two things that can be scorned as weak, but take strength of character to uphold." She looked into the distance then. "There is strength is physical might to be certain, but there is also strength in contemplation, in sacrifice, in companionship, in love, and in even losing. There is strength even in dying."Sarano_Krem OH MY LORD. I'm so sorry this is so long and rambly. I just don't even know how to cut this down. *hides face* Please do not feel pressured at all to post match. I'm sure my next post will be much, much shorter. Also, I apologize for any typos. I kind of word vomit my thoughts when I play Last Night...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:31 pm
Feral Storm wasn't particularly fond of this doe, as tolerable as she was compared to the one before her, and he wasn't too happy with how she believed to have a sagely wisdom.
As she spoke of instinct and of the marked trees, he smiled to himself. "You're right. These trees were marked because I had reasons to mark them, though it has nothing to do with warning others of the alligators and other dangerous creatures of this area." Feral Storm paused in between thoughts, "I agree with you on that, but don't past experiences influence instinct sometimes?"
He wasn't entirely certain of his beliefs when it came to nature, but he knew it was real. "Nature isn't a definite, but it pushes towards certain things. That's what I believe."
Strength in thought and love? How was that even possible? "How is there strength in these things," Storm asked inquisitively.Amorpheous sorry it took so long. combination of forgetfulness, busyness, and a slight difficulty in coming up with a good and proper response to Last Night's never-ending brain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:40 pm
Last Night did not think herself to have any wisdom, she believed, in some way, in nothing at all. She did not think of herself as passing something on to him so much as she was finding something for herself. It was her way to wander and to experience, to expand herself. She had no delusions of wisdom; she did seek to understand.
"I don't presume to know why you mark the trees." She tilted her head just slightly. She could guess though. She clarified further, "I merely offer that it is an example of an action performed above instinct."
She then turned the question back around at him, "Do you believe in nature or your own personal nature? You stated that it was nature for you, my caiman, and I, each, to attack first, so is it something we all share?"
She questioned both, though the second much less than the first. She blinked slowly, considering how to answer the buck who obviously did not believe her. "To love is to give a part of yourself, to trust in your ability to continue walking and living without that part of yourself. To love is to open up yourself to being hurt and to be able to face that, to know that, and to live past that possibility is strength. Strength is not simply living without fear and pain; strength can be fearing and continuing on anyways. Strength can be knowing pain and being able to persevere through it."
"To think is to remove oneself from the physical. Living is something that is so clearly associated with the physical, to live, to quench thirst, to sate hunger, but to think is to choose beyond immediate wants and needs, to conquer something innate to beings who live in bodies that feel so physically." Last Night stopped then, her mind stretching and pulling away in different directions, she could continue to elaborate, to continue to explore the idea. And that is why she conversed, so that she could learn. Whether or not she changed the buck's mind mattered very little for she valued the shared mental experience, this exercise, more than deciding any of these points of view as fact.Sarano_Krem Don't worry about it! OuO
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 3:08 pm
There was something about this kimeti. She was both interesting and irritating. "Good, don't." After a moment of looking over the trees, Storm tried to find the right words to respond to her 'offer', "Then what do you think it's an example of?"
Feral Storm didn't quite like all of these personal questions she was throwing at him, "I believe in nature. I'm sure it had some influence on you and you're clear reputation for asking far too many questions. Also, I only said that it was instinct for us to attack each other because we are both predators. We threaten each other's survival."
Storm listened to her explanation. "I know pain, and I've known fear. I am on friendly terms with neither."
While he didn't quite believe her reasoning for love, he found some merit in her defense of reasoning itself, "Does that include using thought to conquer obstacles?"Amorpheous this RP is having so much character/tribe influence! <3 I don't think we ever discussed any sort of plot/ending. did we? any ideas, miss smarty kin? xp
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:30 pm
"Consciousness. The ability to act above instinct and to use reason. To transform knowing and thought into a deliberate action," she replied, voice carrying though she did not speak very loud. There was a quiet contemplation to her voice, as if she was testing out her words by speaking them out loud, testing the very thoughts that gave rise to them and turning them over in the air to inspect them as they took shape. Every reply was a reevaluation, each response a crystallization of things she had not expressed before. When she said things, they solidified within her, became real in a way they were not when she was simply living these beliefs.
She smiled softly, distantly, "Or perhaps I have taught myself that the best way to learn is to ask questions and that the best way to learn about myself is to learn about others. I was not born asking questions nor were you born knowing the exact content of fear and pain and the desire to avoid both these things."
"So many things are learned," she continued, giving voice to the thoughts that were pulling her mind away, "Why should it be instinct to attack each other simply because we are both predators?"
"Kin live in harmony with each other, some do not eat meat, most would never think to attack a fellow kin. Isn't instinct protect ourselves and, if you accept love, those that you love? When we are foals, we do not strike unless struck first and foalhood is the closest we have to untouched instinct. But if those we love are also predators as you say, then should we not also attack them first?" She paused then. "Even accepting your idea of instinct, why should that justify anything? Why should we be slaves to nature and instinct, especially when we, both you and I, are capable of living above it?"
"If instinct is to attack, then we must ask what fuels that instinct and one conclusion would be fear," Last Night pressed on, her voice winding and stretching like the sunlight itself as it bent around leaves and branches to press light against their sides. "Why should one avoid love because there is the threat of pain? Is fear, fear of pain and weakness, so strong that one cannot defeat it and move beyond it into the realm of love? The strength to conquer obstacles is certainly strength in itself, but to rise above fear and not letting that fear define one's actions and life is strength as well. To acknowledge pain and fear and be willing to face it is strength because it takes strength to believe in one's own resilience."
"Love," she began, "Love-"
Suddenly jaws came snapping out at her legs. The movement registered out of the corner of her eye, triggering the old, ancient instinct that she believed existed. In that moment, she was not above it, she was deep down in her bones, mind still wrapped around the idea of love, fear, and pain so deeply that she did feel any fear. The caiman, large and fast, was not expecting a fight. Her first kick connected solidly with its face. Its tail whipped out, landing a sharp, stinging blow against her other leg. Even as she stepped heavily to the side to lessen the impact, she lowered her head, the sharp tines of her antlers pointed at the caiman. She took a quick step forward, knocking the caiman away. The barrier of her antlers kept it from being able to get to her face. When it tried to snap at her again, she again used her antlers to push it away with a snap. Still it did not turn away from its intended meal, so its third charge was met a kick to expose its belly before she drove her antlers in.
She pressed into the caiman, pushing its thrashing body against a tree to steal its breath, to end this as quickly as possible. Through it all, her eyes were gentle, calm, distant, but sharp with life. As she smothered the caiman, she thought only of mercy and in those last moments, there was a type of love in her actions for she could understand the caiman's desire to survive; she could see through its eyes even as it died, punctured by the points of her antlers.
When it fell still, she pulled away, shaking the caiman free. She looked up, blood running down her leg where its tail had connected and blood dripping down her antlers and onto her gentle face. She said then, voice breathy with the violence of survival, "Love is strength because in order to love, you must conquer fear of others, of pain, of weakness, and even of fear itself."
She closed her eyes against a rivulet of blood. When she looked back at the tree, the marking for danger was stained with blood. Looking to the skies, she pulled herself back into her mind, leaving the trees, the water, and the buck as she reasserted her being above instinct. She stared at the buck for a long, quiet moment before nodding. She caught the fleeting hope that they had both learned something in the course of their conversation, tucking it carefully into the woven fabric of her changing self, before walking away. One step at a time past the buck and into obscurity, a caiman, a friend, stalking her steps as she went.Sarano_Krem So I originally thought, one more exchange, but this seemed like a good place to cut her off. Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes! I think it would be nice to have a closing post from Storm?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 3:12 pm
The doe was at it again, carefully choosing her words to come up with a proper response to the questions he asked her. Feral Storm wasn't much for proper, formal responses. He preferred direct, straightforward ones instead. Even with his preferences, in the back of his mind, he knew she was not wrong about the subject.
Storm looked distastefully at Last Night when she asked about the reasons predators attack each other. All Storm could do was dip his a head a little as he tried to come up with an answer he didn't have.
As she tried to explain love to a buck that never experienced it, Last Night had mentioned life as a foal. This sent Feral Storm thinking back to his time as a young foal. It was a time he'd rather not remember. He quickly turned away from those memories and refrained from answering the doe's questions from then on. Even when she went further in depth on the subject of fear. He could have told her things about fear and it's connection to love. How he believes in nature's influence simply because he never experienced nurture.
Just before Last Night was about to continue her lecture on the meaning of love, a large, tooth filled, scaled beast jumped out at her. Feral Storm stood his ground and snarled as adrenaline coursed though him. He watched as the doe before him methodically fought back against the caiman and killed it with just a few swift and calculated strikes.
Honestly, it surprised the warrior buck that she was able to take down the caiman so quickly, and on her own. Storm figured the purpose of her pet was to help her defend against such attacks. All he could do was watch as she shook off the caiman's carcass and walked away quietly, the creature's blood dripping down her antlers and face the whole while.Amorpheous "the marking for danger was stained with blood." I am keeping this line in my memory banks from this RP. so perfect! and yes, it is perfectly alright to end it here. it all looks beautiful, I love it.(though Storm kinda hates all of this, but who cares xd )
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
