|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 3:37 pm
Ikkio had a dilemma.
She wasn't supposed to be here, and if mama (or Daddy, or Ikuri) caught her, she was in big trouble.
She peeked out from her leafy branch perch, making sure to keep her balance. She was looking at a Radaku den, and falling would be very very bad. The big grown-up Radaku weren't there, but the little ones were toothy and dangerous, and they'd bring the big ones if they were scared. Ikkio didn't want to get attacked by Radaku, obviously.
But she did want one. She wanted one badly. She watched the sleeping Radaku pups off in a sheltered corner of the den. She wanted them all to herself - especially one of them. It was pretty. It was hers. She wanted it.
But how would she get it? She didn't think that she could get either of her parents to bring it back. It was too dangerous they said, and promised to buy a tame Radaku from a breeder when she was older. Well that was all fine and good but she wanted one NOW. That one with the yellow coat and the green spots. Right there.
She scurried back onto the more stable parts of the branch, her heart racing from the thrill of being so close to danger. Well, she might as well head home before Mama found out she was gone. Ikkio started back towards Ast, not too far away. She could figure it out there.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:00 am
Ruelash cursed angrily as his battery of bruises from his encounter with the leaf/alkidike antennaless a*****e hybrid. Whatever his name was. His ears were still ringing from that encounter, so he didn't particularly care what the man's name was. Only that he would kick his a** next time they met.
At least he was in Jahuar and at least he was in once piece. Now to find his way to Lassarra. Where the hell did she live? Ast? Somewhere around there? He figured he'd find his way to Ast and ask there. He certainly hadn't bothered stopping in Yera, not after that man had beat him up. Whatever, he was fine for supplies. Really, he was. There were rivers in Jahuar, right?
He leaned against a tree for a moment, letting the aches fade a little before continuing on. Right. There were rivers, and beasts, and food. It was the inverse of the tundra, he'd heard: Boiling hot, with deadly life everywhere.
If he wasn't aching all over, he'd be excited to try it out. He grumbled something, and with a grunt, continued moving along the well-travelled path.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:29 pm
To Ikkio, the trees were as easy to traverse as the ground. She lept nimbly from branch to branch, very proud of her abilities. She was almost as good as daddy was in the trees. He was better, she supposed, but only because he was older and had bigger arms and legs. Someday she would be bigger and better at climbing.
She was going quickly - she had to get home before she got in trouble. Trouble was so inconvenient. Mama would figure out that she was missing soon, and that meant time was of the essence.
But then she heard the noise of feet below and, curious, paused on a branch to look down. It was a man! A blue man! Blue like mama, but darker. An ice tribe man! Ikkio was immediately interested.
She thought of herself as a shifter. She did, after all, shift color. She also had the shifter crystals and shifter-y hair. Only her eyes betrayed her ice heritage. Still, she was curious of people from the same far-off place that her mother came from. She peeked out from the branch. Ikkio had little fear of strangers. She didn't know any strangers, 'cept for the alkidike lady in the woods.
A stranger was just someone you hadn't messed with yet.
"Hello mister!" she said cheerfully.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:38 am
Ruelash, tired and injured as he was, was a little jumpy in the unfamiliar setting, a trait that suited the wild young man well. He had drawn his blades in a flash of coldly reflective silver even before he had turned to face the noise, his body tense, excited, and ready for a battle against the horrors of this wilderness.
Then he met the ice-yellow eyes of a small child, and he slumped, dissappointed.
"Yeh?" he said cautiously, putting away his swords as he stared up grumpily at the child. It was just a little girl, which meant not much of a fight. Besides. He didn't hit little girls.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 5:10 pm
Ikkio was a little startled by the blades when they came out - she hadn't been expecting them. But the strange man put them away again, so she didn't see any danger.
"You're an ice man, right" she asked, smiling down at him. He looked funny and he had funny clothing, like Mama's old things that Ikkio had found stowed away in a trunk. She and Ikuri had put them on and played with them, but they had been too big and too warm. "Are you from Zena?" she asked.
Well of course he was. He was an ice man. That was where ice people came from.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 5:34 pm
"Yeh?" what the hell did this brat want, and why was she in a tree? "I'm from Zena, 's right..." His head spun briefly and he stumbled slightly.
Wooo... He was still feeling that fight with the halfblood. He steadied himself against a tree, shaking his head to try to clear it in the thickening Jahuar fog.
"s**t. Is it always so mucky 'ere?" he muttered, half to himself. It was awful. He didn't feel like he was getting enough air.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:34 pm
Yesss, Ikkio had hit jackpot. Something interesting in her day. Now she could get more information about Zena. Not that Mama wasn't forthcoming, but Ikkio wanted more.
She looked at him curiously, trouble and trouble with mama forgotten.
"Whats Mucky?" she wondered out loud. What a strange word. For a strange man.
She frowned at him. "Are you all right, mister?" she asked, mildly curious. She didn't care, but that was conversation. Plus, she hated not knowing something and this man clearly had something she didn't know.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:24 am
He swallowed, waiting for the wooziness to subside, which it did.
"Uh..." he blinked, "Mucky is like... Mud." he said, giving the little brat a confused look. "Ya know mud, right?" he said grumpily, kicking some of the dark Jahuar mud with his feet, "Its this s**t."
He shook his head. "Yeh. No, None o' yer business, kid." he said. He hated it when he was around little girls. He hated the compunction to be decent. Not that he wasn't decent sometimes, he just hated feeling forced to. The worst part was, nobody was forcing him. He just couldn't.
Maybe hate was too strong a word.
"Hey kid." he said, a thought occurring to him, "Yah wouldn't happen t' know where Ast is?" he asked, almost grudgingly.
Direk was taking her time catching up. This was an awful place, and she never wanted to EVER be anywhere near here again. Seeing that her oaf was stopped, she took the opportunity to catch up and lean against him, damp and miserable. She hated Jahuar. The only thing good about this nasty place was that she associated it with Lassarra. The only good thing. Only. She whickered quietly, nudging Ruelash with her head, half affecitonate, half impatient. She was glad she wasn't alone here, but she also wanted to get moving. She could feel the mud sucking at her hooves, and she really, really, didn't like it. She didn't even notice the child in the trees - she wasn't accustomed to looking up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:34 am
"Okay" she said, shrugging. She didn't actually care if he was all right or not, and if he was going to be rude about it she was just not going to care. Hey, maybe the ice man was sick! Maybe he was gonna die! That would take the boredom away.
The muck bit was interesting, though. It was a fun word to use - it sounded nastier than mud. Ikkio made a mental note to use it a lot. Muck muck muckety muck - she was already having fun with it!
And then the man asked a question, a question she knew. "Mmhmm! I know Ast! I live there!" she chirped. Why would the ice man be going to Ast? The only Ice person she knew there was...
Was her mother! Interestinger and insterestinger!
"Are you looking for my mother?" she asked, staring at him intensely. What if he was an uncle? Or a cousin? He didn't look like her mother, though. Maybe he was uncle Alek? Or Kayiin, she didn't know. Maybe ice girls looked like boys?
That was silly.
And then Direk entered the scene, and all thoughts of long-lost family were swept aside.
Ikkio gasped. "Pretty..." she whispered, staring openmouthed at the creature. "Pretty Aldabuk..." It was so gorgeous, with its black, shining fur and yellow eyes. She wanted to pet it. She wanted it to herself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:34 am
"Yer mother?" asked Ruelash, puzzled, "I dun' know who yer talkin' about." he squinted, frowning, an idea coming into his head, "Ya ain't Lassarra's kid, are ye?" he asked suspiciously. He couldn't see the resemblance.
For one thing, Lassarra was black and alkidik-y. This girl was black too, but she looked like a shifter, had yellow eyes, and her face was wrong. She looked cute enough, he supposed, but she didn't look like Lassarra. "'cause I'm lookin' fer her."
Direk, startled, looked up to see a small person in a tree. Small people - and big people - didn't belong in trees. In fact, she didn't like things in trees, ready to pounce down at any moment. She bared her large, flat chisel teeth at the girl, threatening.
Ruelash gave Direk a pat on her dark hide.
"'er name's Direk. She's mine, and ain't for sale." he said, smirking, "An' she bites, so don't you be petting her" he didn't want the little tree brat to get hurt... mostly. A part of him wanted to see her try, though. Just because it was funny how people thought they could pet his vicious companion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:47 am
Lasarra? Ikkio knew a Lasarra. Lasarra was the lady that Mama got Ikuri's mammu from. Her parents knew her, but Ikkio had never met her. She didn't even know that Lasarra was a hybrid like Mama. Just that she was a lady that caught and played with lots of animals, and that alone made Ikkio very jealous. She wanted to catch and play with lots of animals. And this man was looking for her. That was interesting.
Ikkio stuck that thought away for later - right now she was more interested in the pretty black Aldabuk.
"Hi Direk" Ikkio said, scrambling down the tree and approaching the aldabuk. She knew he said that she bit, but she was Ikkio and special. She reached out a hand to stroke the Aldabuk's side - where she could reach. "I'm Ikkio."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:12 am
Direk gave the small thing a very unhappy look. Well, at least it was down from the tree. Small twolegs shouldn't be up things. Twolegs belonged on the ground. She bared her blunt teeth as the child approached. DON'T TOUCH HER. Direk did not want to be touched. She only tolerated her oaf touching her because she knew him. She snapped at the child's hand. No. Don't even think about it.
Ruelash snorted with laughter. "I tol' ya. She don't like being petted." he said, giving Direk a gentle scratch behind the ear. Good girl. Good vicious girl.
"I'd not try that again." he continued, "So, ye didn't answer me. Ye know Lasarra?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:39 am
Ikkio jerked her hand away, staring at the Aldabuk with a mixture of dismay, confusion, and anger. That wasn't supposed to happen. Animals were supposed to love her! That was how it was supposed to work. And if they didn't love her, she'd make them love her. She'd slip them sweet treats when their owners weren't looking, and pet them lots and lots. And then they'd be HERS. She didn't have an animal of her own, so she had to use everybody else's animals. She bared her own teeth at the Aldabuk. Mean, mean mean mean, trying to bite her. That Aldabuk was bad.
She turned, arms crossed, to Ruelash. "I know her!" said Ikkio, poutingly, "But you'r Aldabuk is mean, so I won't tell you anything..." She didn't actually know more than 'Lasarra lives near Ast', but even if she did, she wasn't going to tell him!
But then she had an idea. Clearly this man was strong - to have such a scary and mean creature. Maybe he could help her...
"Unless..." she said, smiling slyly, "You help me catch a Radaku!" she said triumphantly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:46 am
"Yeh, she's mean. That's why you don't touch her..." Ruelash's face contorted in a nasty expression, as if he had eaten something bitter.
"Wha th' hell?!" he snarled, stomping at the ground in exasperation, "Ye know her an' ye won't tell me?!" he took a deep breath to calm himself. Because you don't hit little girls. It wasn't Direk's fault! He'd warned the girl not to touch her, and Direk had done what Direk had done...
And then the girl gave him her ultimatum. He stopped in his tantruming, and gave the girl a puzzled look. "Ye want me to catch a Radaku? Why?" Then he realized he didn't care why... He just wanted to try. "Arright. So If I catch you this Radaku, ye'll tell me where to find Lasarra?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:53 am
He seemed eager to catch a Radaku. None of that silly ITS TOO DANGEROUS stuff or YOU HAVE TO WAIT. He was willing to catch a Radaku for her, just for some silly information about a lady that Ikkio didn't even know.
She managed not to giggle at how stupid the man was. "Mmhmm!" she said, climbing back into the tree, "Follow me!" she said, "There's Radaku this way, mister Ice man!"
She led him to the Radaku den, guiding him from the trees as he wandered on the ground. She didn't know why he wasn't in the trees, but that didn't really matter because his Pretty and Mean Aldabuk was with him.
Finally, she pointed to the Den. "There." she said, "I want the little green one." she said, before she sat back on her heels on her branch perch, waiting for the fireworks to begin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
