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 Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:48 pm
 It was dark and dusty; drab as a moth on a stone. The dust billowed lightly about his feet when he moved, covering his fur and seemingly dampening even his own brilliantly coloured coat. To a point he was grateful for this, as his coat stood out among the lands like a sore thumb, making him easy to spot. At least with this dust of grey he blended more into the sun bleached bones and general mess of the land he was crossing through. He'd never before been out this way, but he thought he'd heard something about it. Thus far the general reek of Hyena and Lion both signaled that everything he'd heard had at least some statement in truth. Though uncertain how to feel about this, Nyota didn't bother to try and skirt the area. Instead, he took his time watching his surroundings as he passed slowly through the land.
In truth, he wasn't much certain as to how anyone lived here. He had grown up in a desert, and it wasn't so completely desolate as this. Not once yet had he seen hide or hair, or smelt the faintest wiff of a herd or prey beast. It was possible, of course, that the lions and hyena had taken to eating one another, but the very thought of a that was a little far fetched... if somewhat amusing. Craking a smirk at that, Nyota kept his laugh silent and hopped easily down into a small gorge between two elephant rib cages.
Lying side by side, he'd almost guess that these had been family or mates in life. Indeed, from the way the skulls tilted, they might have been holding trunks as the last of the life slipped from them and the mob of waiting scavengers began to rip apart their carcasses. It was a most surreal thought, and Nyota stepped easily over the crossing of the two skeleton's legs. There was artistry in this land, cold and bitter as it may be, and a part of him was beginning to like it. If only it weren't for that stentch of dog that tugged and bit at his nostrils with every breath!
Nyota rolled his eyes at himself. He was making castles of ant hills and he knew it; the smell was older, at least in this spot, and the idea of a Hyena daring to take on a grown Lion, even a lone one, was laughable. What he was more concerned about was the taste of feline in the air. He'd yet to see one of his own, but he could smell them everywhere. The two mingling scents in this territory were simply unnatural. Usually, the two species avoided one another at best, and stole from one another at worst, but certainly they did not live side by side?
Of course, after everything he had seen through his lifetime was the possiblity so terribly strange? yes, it was. Nyota shook his head and slid under the spine of some long forgotton relic. In an attempt to ignore the confusing smells, he focused on his sight and hearing. Certainly the sights were worth it, and soon enough he'd begun a silent composing of poetry.
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:44 pm
There were many times that Zoma cherished her lack of direction, her sense of getting lost on whim that lead her to strange distances and childish adventures within the Graveyard that she was sure not many of her kind would stumble upon. [It did seem to help her scouting, even though she had yet to report any at all findings to BossLady...] But there were obviously times when she cursed to herself, the circles the female hyena wound up in or sometimes the forboding the skulls and littered bones seemed to try to warn of.
The hyena's cobalt eyes darted upon the unfamiliar lands, the new bones that lay ahead and the skulls that created their vast mountains. Somethings not right about this place... Whispers in the back of her mind whilst black ears began to flatten. Eyes growing wider, still darting around. Something was wrong. A shiver traveled down her spine and down to the tip of her tail, making it fluff more than usual in response. This place was so cold, so .. unfamiliar and normally that wouldn't bother her, this fear was momentarily immobilizing would never surface. But, this was all wrong. Even when she had found her way to the border of the Graveyard, this sense of awry was lacking. The smells, those smells... wrong. They were not hyena, they were elsewhere behind her far away, nor prey she knew of but this new smell she was unable to place. She had never encountered Lions to learn their scent, nor gotten close enough to register it away.
"Hn.." She breathed out, taking a weary step back after finally remembering how to move her limbs. Maybe... maybe just go back the way she came, she wouldn't be noticed by whatever lived around this area. That's right, that was a smart plan. Then she forget this ever happened and never have to tell BossLady she was scared of some new place, yeahyeah. Caution with every small step, she took a few more steps back and then a few more...
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:25 pm
Sight gave way from scattered shells and towering mamonths to one that denounced what the scents had tried to tell him. Nyota paused, half turned around the shell of what was once a head... seemingly decapitated as the body was no where in sight. He froze immediatly, becoming one with the scenery so that he might have been a statue carved from broze and molded to the spot.
There was a hyena there, across the way, and she in turn was about to run though he didn't think she'd yet seen him. Black and white as the area about them was betwixt them, had the pink of her ears and orange splotches lost upon her cheeks not been present he may have never seen her, and in reaction he once more opened his nostrils to the stories they could tell him--he'd been a fool to ignore such a sense. Female, he thought, from having encountered their kind before, and his fur began to rise before he forced it to smooth once more. His nose told them there were no others nearby, at least so far, and therefor there wasn't as much a reason to be wary... as much. Nyota waited just another moment before he moved again, jumping ontop of the giant's skull where he stretched himself, somewhat awkwardly, and gazed down at the creature that reaked of such fear. Wise, for a hyena.
"As I woke the dawn woke with me, and for an hour we spoke
of bees and flowers and such 'pretty' things as girls are ever wont.
And when her face began to age and radiate with daylight,
The topic changed to war and pain and all the troubles of beast-kind.
And in the eve, when orange stretched across the serengeti
my lady shown her last face to me-- bitter, hot and petty
For all those that might walk with night, and see the stars so pretty.
So you find that in the end she's a woman like all others
As beautiful as the day is long, but always wanting more."
His eyes narrowed, a spot of humor in them, as he wondered what a woman's reaction to this might be.
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:51 pm
What was with this place and always looking so similar to itself no matter which direction one looked; and was not helping that Zoma was making her attempts out while walking backwards. A wise thing to do was turn around and face the direction she was intending to go, but the dark female really wasn't wanting to take any chances of something attacking her from behind or something when she knew only Hyena were bound to be ahead of her. She would be able to make a break for it, however, but who knew how fast lions - or whatever that scent belonged to - were.
She took in a long inhale, her breathing almost hitching. The strange scent was somewhat closer than it had been moments before, had she been spotted? Or, or maybe it was just close by and had not yet noticed her own foriegnness. Or hey, maybe it was going to help her out and not be so mean like she was convinced it was? ..... yeah right. That would really be pushing it, everything she had encountered in the Graveyard were mean. Even her own kin, not a nice fun one among the bunch - she was beginning to get a little depressed about this, and now she was going to probably die before she met someone who she could enjoy her time with.
Ebon ears twitched, her cobalt eyes followed as the soft patter upon the hard bone barely made its sound - but with a graveyard and how empty and silent it was, nothing else could match the void. Her eyes widened, retreat halted as she gazed upon him as he stood the skull. The male lion stood how she could imagine Mafa, but Mafa would probably look... well less fluffy. Less color and not so big. Was this a lion? Really? Zoma had imagined them to be gigantic, with huge teeth that stuck from their mouths and fire, needles for fur, eyes that could strike one down if another creature looked at them funny... and shadows and just more... bad things. This was unexpected; fluffy and brown... and that color of the grass - wow, lions were able to achieve such colors? That was unfair.
He did have himself a rather nice sounding voice and - wait... "Huh?" Her head tilted to the right, confusion replacing her once fear-stricken expression. Did all lions not make any sense?
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:43 pm
She was fearful at first, Nyota noted with amusement, but during his speak her eyes gave way to a much more interesting emotion. He remained watching her after his words had died away, and when she said nothing, he gave a light chuckle into the air as one paw slid, harmlessly, down the side of ivory to sway lightly just before her eyes. Every so often his claws would tap on the bone, but never made a move towards her person. "That last line throws it off, I know," He replied as if her question had been for the flaw in his poem instead of his meaning in general. Treating others as if they were idiots never got one anywhere, after all, and the expression did say that more ants would come to honey than salt. So far that had proven true in his experience and thus Nyota continued to live by it.
He gave a pathetic sort of sigh, and turned a charming half-smile upon her despite the fact that his over-confident air remained about his person at all times. Nyota was, after all, a cat and that fact would never cease to be true. "Its composition was begun long ago, but alas I lack the inspiration to complete it. A lack of feminity will do such to one when attempting to create works about such a complex, contorting creature. Why, were I to meet one woman that would agree with herself over any given point at a single time it would be cause of great remark, and I might find myself in position to give much thought to my own views and perseptions. Alas, this has yet to occur."
Nyota paused, eyebrows raising as if he expected an answer, which he indeed did not. Momentarily he lowered his head, craning his neck in a graceful motion over the side of the skull to give easier view of his features to the hyena below and similarly aqcuire a better look at her. "But do forgive me, I do seem to go on about such trivial matters. Perhaps this lady would honor so base a creature as I with her name, that I might cease to refer to her as 'woman' and 'lady' and instead do her some slight respect as she is, at point, due."
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:42 pm
Her still wide, now surprised, eyes watched his moves in weary. The way he settled more comfortablly upon the crown of the skull and let his large paw glide and sway. The brown and green lion didn't seem threatening in the least, thank goodness, well... for now at least. For all she knew, this could be a cunny trick to lower her guard or something and then strike! Lions were crafty after all, as she was told many times when she was young. But she was told many things and this fluffy cat was deflating all of them. This left the hyena even more confused.
Her silence was followed by a long series of blinking, absorbing all his sweet and well articulated words. Are all lions like this? She asked herself again and half wondering why she was never warned if so. Zoma had never encountered a creature that spoke with such poetry and thought, that it was taking her own brain to filter through for their meaning and basic context. Perhaps he was actually asking her opinion, views of even pros of his previous speech to her but no words could form into an equal reply to his own. Instead, she continued to stare at him as if lost and blinked a few more times.
"Aa," Zoma finally spoke up, "It's alright... one's train of thought is bound to wander... I guess." She glanced to her left, unsure of what else to say.. a little embarrased, but just unsure before her gaze fell upon him again. "I'm.." dumbfounded, flabbergasted, unsure of the ground is below her? Should she even give him her name, an deemed enemy to her kind? One that she should engage in battle of epic proportions? .... Well, he seemed nice enough. "I'm Zoma." Was her simply reply, bowing her head in respect. "And what do I have the honor of addressing you as, Mr. Fluffy Grass Colored Cat?" Bah, that was too long, but she couldn't think of anything else.
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:17 pm
For a dog she was adorable in her silence. Nyota allowed a cool sort of smile to settle along his features, the half lidded eyes gazing down at her as he thought. "Zoma," He repeated in kind, allowing the word to roll off his tongue like a waterfall. "Like a whisper through the grass on a stormy afternoon, echoing like thunder on the hills; I like it."
Her 'nickname' of him hadn't fallen on deaf ears, and indeed they perked at the sound of it. Nyota laughed, lightly, the sound a barest whisper on the edgy breeze that haunted the graveyard. "The Lady names me well, indeed, but my mother had a try at that too. She called me Nyota'visima, a spring in the heavens above for the splash of colour it has gifted me with. Nyota will surfice, however, or Grass Cat, if you prefer."
The lion took a moment to drag a tongue slowly down one arm to smooth the fur where the wind had riled it. He thought as he did, and spoke up slowly once more when he had drawn a conclusion for himself. "Would you, oh Zoma the reticent, know the name of this land? But ho, if the land has no name, perhaps then you might tell me of those whom might live here? It is odd, to speak the least of such a miracle, to find such mixed a scent as what has graced my pallett of this eve. Our kinds, as you must be aware, are not easily mixed, if civil towards one another when food has not come into play. Yet, my nose doth tell me that many of your's paws have given homage to this land as many of mind cross paths the same."
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:46 pm
If it weren't for her dark layer of fur, perhaps a deep blush could have been seen upon her face. Zoma did at least feel her face grow hot over the compliment of her name, she turned her eyes down in embarrasment and muttered a small 'thank you' in response and didn't pick her gaze back up until he made his own introductions.
"Nyota..." she repeated as he did her own name, tasting how it sounded off her own tongue. It was a pretty name and she was sure to use it in conjunction with the silly little nickname, albeit probably shorter and maybe even the one he had perfected himself. "Mr. GrassCat Nyota..." That sounded a bit right.
To his next inquries, she took a moment to think it over. Her head once again tilted to one side, eyes to the heavens as she pondered if there was a more appropriate way of describing and naming this place. A simple blink and she was looking at him once again. "Well, obvious enough it is a Graveyard... for Elephants, which is the only name I've ever heard for it, The Elephant Graveyard." He didn't seem stupid, btu repeating the name in the proper order made sense, "I'm not... exactly sure of where we are those, I have a tendency to get lost," Gah, she kicked herself mentally. She always let that slip, and to a lion! "And this is a new location for me, but I think.... I think we're closer... to the lions....." Here she began to slow down, the weariness from before settling back into her. The confusion and conversation with Nyota had calmed her down, and distracted her from the whole situation. She was so close to the lions' area of the Graveyard and not the comfortable, if it could be called that, center. Her voice picked up a little speed, a little frantic and timid. "I'm not positive, but it's just this feeling and the lingering scent. 'cause I never knew what they smelled like, then met you and now... I just smell it so more over here and.... yeah." Zoma glanced around again, just in case more were possibly coming closer. Death would so put a damper on her day. "My kind stay in the center... I'm not sure why, I always heard we usually were everywhere in here. I guess times change..."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 12:19 pm
"Times flow like a river," He responded, one paw moving in a breeze that stirred up where he was laying. He fluttered the appendage slowly, like a leaf on the wind, then settled it down beside him one more. He nodded along with the rest of the female's explanation as things began to make more sense. Likely the entire pack of them were hemmed in by lions, who would want to control their movements anyway. Lions, like all cats, were control freaks whether they deigned to admit it or not.
The male lumbered to his feet then, a more graceful movement surely than the verb would imply, and found his way with a leap down to where they hyena stood. When all four paws had touched upon the earth he stretched himself, giving a relaxed sort of yawn as he did. "Well. The light grows weary, and surely with these monuments of time about us the light must struggle ever more to stay its full length. Perhaps the lady would allow one such as I to escort her back to her and hers' domain?"
Nyota raised a brow then, and offered the slightest bit of smile to the corner of his maw. He could just follow her, but it would be much more interesting to enter their territory with another of their kind, wouldn't it? Beyond that, the female had said that she was lost...
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:17 pm
The lion's graceful descent was surprising, making the female hyena jump back with yelp, right front paw held up in a defensive manner - and at this point, she wondered if her eyes would ever go back to their normal size. "Uh... well.." she stammered, watching him stretch and almost forgetting he had even spoken to her.. Lions were SO much larger when they were closer, he looked big sitting above her but now.... Oh geez and those teeth that were more apparent when he yawned. The stories she had heard about many hyena needing to take down a single lion was making a lot more sense now.
"Well... um." Zoma began once again finding her voice yet still just flabbergasted. She took a careful step backwards, raising the other forward leg when the other hit the ground. Her gaze flicked upward, noticing he was indeed correct... the light was seeming to fade into darkness and the little white dots were finding their way out. "Well.... I uh. I do appreciate the offer Mr. GrassyCat." And focus back to him, "But... well..." Oh how the nerves were getting to her now. First the confusion and now the closer proximity, the growing darkness and the more confusion with the kind offer he had bestowed. "I'm not sure that would be a good idea..." Finally she managed. "My kind probably wouldn't like you being close and, you're too nice to get hurt or something and they're mean ... and such." This was hard, gah... and she felt so weird and horrible for the remark on the other hyena. They were supposed to stick together, weren't they and she had said something unkind... but true.
"And... it's not like I have a place to be taken to." She continued in a low tone, always being lost meant she didn't really have a set home. The black female made a bed wherever the place presented itself and when she needed it. Zoma wasn't like Mafa and her skull in the center.
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