A rustling noise nearby registered on Cyclone's consciousness and his eyes flashed open as he sat upright, alert for the source. He barely moved, swiveling his ears in the very early silence of pre-dawn. As he blinked the sleep from his eyes they adjusted to the dim grays and greens around him. The ruins. He had fallen asleep uneasily the night before and had not slept well. But apparently he had fallen asleep deep enough to be caught off guard, he berated himself as he looked around. He knew the ruins were dangerous, and staying the night was risky. All he heard were night bugs and faint bird chirps as things awoke for the day.
There was the noise again, a movement sound in the grasses nearby, almost like slithering? Were there serpents of some variety in the ruins? Cyclone very slowly stood where he was, trying not to rustle the grass. His mind was tricking him, he could almost think he saw movement in all the shadows around him. Careful not to trip over the debris scattered about, the buck took a couple of steps toward the area he thought the noise had come from. Suddenly, he heard it again, so close he nearly leaped out of his hide. Then he saw it, a shadowy snake not 2 feet away- he was sure it was going to attack!
Rearing, Cyclone squealed and crashed his hooves down on the menacing snake, dashing it to death he hoped. At the same moment, a loud screeching happened, and his mind tried to relate this to the noise he thought a snake may make. What?? It slithered away as he chased, trying to trample it in his high strung hysterics. Then a rat was there, teeth gnashing, little claws flailing at his hooves.
Confused, Cyclone stumbled back away from the violent red eyed rat coming at him from the brush. He had not time to think, and tried to bolt only to stumble on the bricks he had so carefully avoided moments ago. Another cry from him and a squawk of disgusted outrage next to him and he found himself on his rump in a very undignified sitting position, legs splayed.
"You bloody b*****d what in the name of cheese where you DOING." A harsh voice growled from the grubby rat hunched over, holding a battered tail in its paws. A glittering red eye stared him down menacingly but there was a hint of amusement at the idiot noulicorn's graceless fall. "I .. well.. uh." Cyclone was only now piecing together he had thought the rat's tail was a snake and had trampled the creature. "Uh... snake?" He ended dumbly, looking around. His hocks hurt from his landing on sharp rocks, and his ankle throbbed from twisting it. Huffing, he blew some wild frazzled mane from his face and glared at the disgruntled rat.
"I should eat you, pony." The rat rumbled, angry but more concerned with his tail. Dodger knew he could not actually eat a full sized noul buck, but he was pissed enough to give the a*****e a few more scratches if he could. Maybe a bite or two...
Cyclone took pause to this, then scoffed. "Oh sure, just try then." He stood up, wincing at the ankle injury. "Ooof." He grunted when he put a little weight on it. It probably wasn't broken, or even sprained he figured, but it hurt!
Dodger took some satisfaction that the stupid cow deer was clearly feeling injured. He looked over his poor bruised tail. ]"Snake." He muttered, deeply indignant. "Idiot." He smoothed a paw across his tail, it was very battered.
After righting himself and assessing the damages, from a safe distance of the strange rat intruder, Cyclone decided he was probably going to live. But he might not be enjoying a gallop any time soon. UHG. The rat looked like he had taken a good beating though.
"Sorry ... I did nott mean to bash your tail." He begrudgingly apologized. He was not keen on rats but also felt a little bad for injuring this one for no reason. Although, why had he been so close to where the buck had been sleeping??
Dodger stared beady eyed up at the noul a moment, and nodded. "You stupi-" He stopped, nose twitching. Oh now, that's not good. The rat had caught the scent of ...something very bad. He had smelled it before, a new smell to this area that stalked all the living things now. A Death Shadow. A Bone Crusher he heard they were called. Forgetting his tail, his eyes darted around.
Cyclone noted the obvious change in the rat, the extreme fear as it looked around. It had not seemed scared of him at all, perhaps some other rat was nearby? A catbeast?
"What are y-" He was hushed by a hiss from the rat and an emphatic gesture with its paw. Cyclone had been feeling the drain of the initial adrenaline of his imagined snake attack, he wasn't ready for the second flood of fear as he heard a branch crack nearby. It was a heavy sound, a large thing moved in the woods just outside of the brushy overhang they were in. What were they going to do, he could not out run a predator right now with his leg like this. What if it was a cat beast??
Dodger saw there was no place to hide, but the alcove they were already in. He scooted back to be closer to the noul. At least it was injured and if they were pounced on, he would be able to make a fast getaway and leave the noul as an easy meal! He sat motionless, scenting the air and hoping the thing had only come because of the noises and had not smelled them yet.
Cyclone calmed the rising tide of fear in his mind the best he could. He was new to using his gifts, but this was a better time than most to hope it would work. Eyes closed, he looked within, to the new place of seedling power awakened in him by the Grandfather. Channeling his thoughts, Cyclone called on the power to summon Mist from the damp ground around them. A fog started to rise from the ground, swirling and quickly blotting out the grass, the debris, then the walls and brush nearby as it thickened.
Dodger's eyes widened as the grounds around them started to grow foggy as a mist rose. Confused, he looked around then up at the noul standing there, eyes closed in concentration. What? He had not seen one do this before. The rat watched in amazement as the brush and ruins around them were blotted out in a veil of suspended mist. Droplets formed on his quivering whiskers and dampened his coat. If the mist did not confuse the predator, at least their scents might be disguised, he hoped.
Nearby, a muscled shadowy figure slowed its stalking movements as the world started to fog up. How unusual, it thought suspiciously. It had seen the creatures in this land use magic before, but not like this. It moved to fast to be the weather, but... it was thickening quickly and the beast grew wary. There were tasty treats out here somewhere, but it did not want to risk getting lost in these horrible ruins it now lived in. And it could not be sure what direction the noises had come from now. There was only silence and mist, not even a scent to follow. It stalked through the brush toward the light to get out of the misty area and find something else to hunt.
Dodger was not sure how long they sat as such, the noul favoring its leg and peering around, scared they would be attacked from any direction. The rat scented the air, but could smell nothing else. Birds started to chirp nearby, making him think the danger had passed for now. He cautiously moved forward a bit and saw the mist was dissipating rapidly around them. The damp area seemed clear. He looked over his shoulder at the noul.
Cyclone gathered from the way the rat had looked around and was more relaxed that the danger must have passed. He grinned, giddy with excitement that he had used his gift and it had WORKED. He loved it, calling the cool damp world shrouding mist like that!
Dodger snerked at the puffed up noulicorn, " Not bad pony." He said, reluctantly appreciative of the other's efforts to keep them both safe. And he had been ready to sacrifice the tail-stomper to the creature. He shrugged to himself, honestly he probably still would. But it also couldn't hurt to make these magic cows think they were friendly and stuff. They had some bountiful place they lived and he wanted to find it.
"Names Dodger." He added after a hesitation.
"Nice to meet you Dodger, I'm Cyclone." The buck greeted him. The rat maybe wasn't so terrible after all, though he was not sure he would be trusting the little guy any time soon. He watched the rat trundle off into the shrubbery. It was the same one he had run across before he realized, and wondered again why the rat had been hanging around where he had been sleeping in the first place. Oh well... maybe it had been a coincidence. Cyclone realized he may be staying in the ruins a little longer than he had planned, considering his ankle, and decided to see if he could limp a little farther along the building ruins he had been sleeping behind. Just in case that predator came back to check on the area when it realized the mist was gone.
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