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 Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:18 pm
She’d set out a little after dawn, although she had to admit she was somewhat hesitant to leave Iva and his strange world of feathers. She’d never met another hare quite like him- and hopefully the gods had not marked that to be her final meeting. But Arcadia knew better then to ignore a quest- and now was the time to move.
It had been a lot of things that influenced her decision, more so then just a wayward dream. She wasn’t a seer- so she had to be careful about interpreting odd, and seemingly random signs on the earth. The first was that her stores were abating. She needed more natto roots and cajo bark- and even being just a small creature herself, she was using up the supplies along her home.
It had been a while too, since she had last seen Amédia’s mortal form- a lioness called Améh. She was getting somewhat lonely without her teacher, although she’d be damned if she knew where she had drifted off to. She had made various concessions over the week before her trip- but none so far had summoned the goddess to her. She would have to go on instinct for now; and Arc wondered if perhaps this was a kind of test.
Her mother had once said the red land was where her father had come from. She decided she would find that land first.
Arcadia now faced a large, patchy area of savannah. An area she would never cross, had she been staying home. This was a dangerous place- full of hawks and other hungry creatures. It made her wish for a moment she might have been braver- perhaps like Iva. Shifting her ears, Arcadia hopped down from a large stump, her pink eyes flashing as she observed the morning atmosphere.
It wouldn't do just standing still.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:32 pm
Isipho the lion was for once, quite serious. Her usually distant and smiling face was now hard, and emotionless.The the face of a hunting lion.
She had never been a very good hunter, never really had the chance to learn. Usually, her diet was of old, sickly mice and an occasional carcass she would find, it was an amazing the lioness wasn't that thin. But instinct had kicked in after a few foodless days, and her ribs poked out awkwardly as she stepped forward softly, all her moves strangely graceful, her usually awkward steps gone.
Sniffsniffsniff. Nothing by that bush. Her ears swiveled towards a clearing on her right, ahead of her, as she heard a few soft thumps and steps. A clearing? Surely no prey animal would dare wander there, it was probably.. well, only large predators dared near the small, clear areas. Any others could be picked off so easily. Even Isi was fairly visible, the protective bushes and scrubby trees clearing out. But.. still, she could smell it. Rabbit.
Her gait picked up.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:25 pm
Arcadia took a careful step forward. It was quiet. Morning air was always quiet, and it was both welcoming and unsettling. A soft layer of mist was floating just above the grasses, and although it obscured her vision, it did little to hide her own figure. Danger, danger.
The hare’s body tensed slowly as she peered, tightening her grip on the kola nut she had pressed beneath her teeth. She had been carrying it- but as she moved to cross the empty field, she’d moved it to her mouth so she could move with little problem. Oh- if only her expertise had been in bravery and caution!
Arc took a slow step forward, her body tensing as a slight...presence flooded across the rabbit’s senses. Nervously she glanced about, tensing her body to bolt if the opportunity caused for it. Something was not right- it was far too quiet this morning.
She resolved herself to silence for the moment, hoping she would be quick enough to move when the danger showed itself. She cursed her hare's nature, which caused her heart to pick up, and the blood to flow through her veins.
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:03 pm
Isi tensed, her nostrils flaring, trying to catch the scent. The mist was okay enough to deal with closeup, but she was still quite a bit away from the small animal, and it was blurring her vision. Each of her steps were tense, and incredibly careful, not wanting to make a noise in the morning silence.
Another step.. and then another..
Even though Isi's instinct was quite a keen hunter, Isi, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. As the adreniline of finding something began to fade, so did instinct. Desperately trying to keep her movements that of a powerful, graceful lioness, the cub-minded female stepped. On. A twig.
Damnit. Without another thought, instinct screamed at her "POUNCE!!"
And Isi listened, bundling up her leg muscles and springing herself as close to the powerful stench of rabbit as she could.
You would expect for her to roar or something, like they do on most nature documentries, but this whole while, she was silent.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 3:28 pm
Arcadia’s body flinched, and suddenly, she felt the cool slide of a shadow pooling over her. At once her neck jerked with a quick snap, and she saw the form of a lioness moving upon her. Her jaw slackened in fear, and suddenly she felt her body pull into motion before even deciding to.
She ran towards the lioness. Her mother had always said to do so- that way, the lion had to turn before she could catch you. The hare bolted, her small brown body flailing as she tried to clear the underbelly of the female, before she could grab her.
“You, you! Stupid lioness!” She suddenly yelled, trying to escape. “Do you know who I am?”
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Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:31 pm
Isi jerked mid-leap, eyes widening with suprise. It talked! Her legs moved underneath her, twisting in shock that her prey had talked to her. She didn't know they could speak the general tongue!
With a gasp, she slammed into the earth, dust billowing up around her. Her chin jutted up, and her chipped teeth slammed into the roof of her mouth, causing an instant gush of blood.
With a whimper, the lioness moaned and looked around, head spinning slightly. Sticking her tongue to the roof of her mouth, desperately trying to stem the blood from her self-inflicted wound, she looked at the rabbit. It was running.. towards her? Isi had never seen that before. But then again, the rabbits she usually hunted [and never actually caught] never spoke.
Sniffing the sickly sweet stench of her own blood, she sputtered a weak sound, "Pwhap?" Perhaps she should have moved her tongue before she spoke. Cringing, the slim lioness moved her tongue, giving her some room to speak, and uttered a quick, "Huh?" before jamming her tongue back into the wound.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:07 am
The thick smell of blood caught Arcadia’s nose, and she flinched as she involentairly wanted a look at the wound. “Stupid, stupid lion!” She wheezed. It was true- most hares could not speak the common tongue. Hopefully that had startled her! When Amédia had created an illusion for her, she had also taught her quite a bit about the language. She did not use such an illusion anymore- but certainly, she had the tongue.
The hare stomped her foot and walked a circle around the crouched lioness. “What did you do, bleed yourself? It serves you right. Open up your mouth and let me look at it. And if you eat me, you shall be cursed, I swear it!” Arcadia forcefully added.
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:41 am
Stupid? The lioness looked truely hurt, her eyes a bit weepy. She wasn't stupid, was she? Her shoulders sagged, Isi looked at the hare, nodding thickly. But still, how could this hare talk? And why did she want to look at.. whatever she wanted to look at? And what was a curse? Questions raced through her mind, and she nodded again. Isi could never eat anything that talked. But then again, she still was hungry. Very hungry.
Hesitantly, she opened her mouth, tongue still stuck to the small wound like glue. Her gums were stained a light tinge of red, and sharp teeth, yellow and chipped, were revealed.
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Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:22 am
Arcadia shook her head. “What, are you getting weepy?” She groaned, and placed a fuzzy paw on the lion’s tongue to try and force it away from the wound. “Hold still. I can say what I want about you, trying to eat me and all. Don’t take none of it personal. I’m a high priestess, you know- not wise to eat me. So don’t get excited and bite my paw off or anything, I’m trying to see your fool wound. Come on-“ The tongue seemed rather reluctant to go.
Despite her seeming calm tone, she was incredibly frightened. Any moment she could just see the lioness snapping her up. But she had always been taught to hide what she felt. Amédia had said if people couldn’t read you, they were less likely to think less of you. She hoped that held true as she fiddled around inside the lion’s mouth.
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Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:42 pm
Isipho looked down at the ground, marveling at a small pebble between the hare's feet. Anything to distract ehr from the dull, pounding pain in the roof of her mouth. Maybe she was stupid.. Maybe. Everything seemed a bit topsy-turvy to the poor lioness.
What was a priestess? Isipho began to move her mouth to answer, but realized that would involve biting down on the hare. Gagging, she jammed her tongue down as a furry paw brushed against it. The blood wasn't gushing anymore, merely dripping.
Mmm, she could smell the little hare, that delicate, earthy smell wafting up into her nostrils. It was all she could do not to snap her mouth shut.
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Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 1:08 pm
“Hey, hey!” Arcadia snapped, and thwacked the lioness on the bridge of her nose. “What’s with the sudden drooling? Don’t be getting any ideas! I ain’t a hare for eating.” She spoke, doing her best to keep her voice sounding as strong and unlapine as possible. There was a bite on the roof of her mouth, no doubt where the hapless female’s teeth had caught her gums. “It won’t be bad as long as you don’t lick it much.”
The hare shifted and began to pull up some weeds not too far from where they both stood. All the while she kept a nervous pink eye focused on the lioness. It would be so easy for her to just swallow her whole. Would Amédia even know she was gone? And Amédia was such a sweet soul. She doubted she would actually curse the lioness like she had threatened. But hopefully, the female didn’t know that.
Arcadia pulled out a root, and before the lioness could react, she forced the root into her mouth. “Don’t spit it out, it’ll help the pain. Just chew it a bit. Don’t swallow though, too much is poison.”
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Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:15 am
Oh. She had been drooling, hadn't she? Well. Isi nodded slightly and shrugged, small shoulders rolling backwards. A rabbit would be really nice. Every bit of her body ached, telling her to go after the little lupine. Not for eating, not for eating.
A grey eye slid over to the plant-thingies she was pulling out. What would she do with those? Then it was in her mouth, and this hare was telling it was poisonous or something? Oh. Gagging, she spit the root out and watched it land a couple of feet away. The lioness began scraping her tongue with her paws, eyes watering.
Finally, she took a deep breath, and looked at the hare reproachfully. "Poison?" The blood was still dripping, but she couldn't clean it off.
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Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:02 pm
Arcadia groaned, but with every bit of patience picked the root back up, and started to dust it off. “Only if you eat it, addle brains. It’s perfectly harmless if you don’t. It’ll stop it from bothering you so you’ll stop licking it, so it will scab and start to heal. Wounds in the mouth can be bad to start healing. You don’t want your jaw to rot, do you?” Arcadia threatened, although she doubted this was such a case that would bring about jaw rot.
But she proffered the root back in front of the female’s face, and shook it gently back and forth. “It isn’t going to kill you. I’ve never killed anyone yet- that’s very contrary to my job, you know. I’m a healer, not a killer.”
She attempted to wedge the female’s mouth back open. “You know the difference, right? Right? Eat it. I mean! Just suck on it. Goddess. Don’t eat it, or we’d have to make you throw it up in about fifty seconds.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:15 am
Isipho blinked. "Oh.." She resisted the urge to ask what an addle was, and sulked silently as the hare explained. "No, I don't!" She didn't want her jaw to rot at all! Then she wouldn't be able to hunt.
The lioness nodded, warily following the root with her eyes. A healer? Ohhhhhh. That explained how much she knew. "Oh.. okay. I won't eat it. Promise." She smiled hopefully at the lapine, before opening her mouth, still keeping an eye on the weed, and trying not to think how it could kill her..
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Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 10:56 am
Arcadia flopped the root into the female’s mouth again, and took a few steps back to admire her work. With something in her mouth, the lioness started to loose a lot of her inheritably intimidative qualities. It was actually rather funny looking. It took months of her healer practice to keep her from giggling.
“Now you!” She said again, pointing at her nose. “Let that go to show you that hares are not for eating. Or if you must- don’t not expect something in return. Where are you headed to, kid?” She asked, patting her bluntly on the nose. She had been wondering if she was going in the right direction or not...
“These better not be lands, are they?”
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