Post by Rynoah on Oct 20, 2006 2:20:00 GMT -5
Mwenyezi's Waterhole.
The Characters:
Mwiba, ghost of Mwenyezi's past.
Nikashi, grumpy juvenile lion.
Tzik, lion cub.
----
A grunt, ears flecking back breifly, before he grumbles. "Why's everybody always snarlin' at me about Sarabi? That guy the King was talking to about her was all snarly about her too." he frowns, and stands again, before sitting; rubbing at his throat with a forepaw, and coughing, trying to clear a bit from it. ".. She's supposed to be my sister now. I have to be nice to her. Or ... Momma.... Will be... Angry."
Tzik's ears prick at the idea of someone, anyone, being snarly about Sarabi. "Who?" he demands, but calms a bit when Nikashi announces that he will be nice to the young lioness.
Nikashi grunts, ears back. "Bug. I think that's what they call him. He's supposed to teach Sarabi to be something. I don't know what. But everyone who knows about it keeps saying he's not supposed to /kill her/, but at the same time that she could die c'os of it. I heard'em all the other day at the rock, before you showed up."
Tzik looks to the side. He'll have to watch his <3Sarabi more carefully. StalkerTzik! "Kay. You hear anything else and you'll tell me, right?"
Nikashi nods a few times.. before he coughs again. ... He's silent for a moment'rtwo, then says, "... An' sorry I called ya a freak. I just was mad c'os you sat on me, and c'os I.. Mn. I don't really like bein' around all these lions that're tryin' to kill people." ... "... Myma... Just kinda.. left me here.. " A shrug... It's like he's stuck at military scool, only worse!
Tzik tilts his head to one side, then nods. "I didn't mean'tuh play s'rough," he apologizes in turn, casting his eyes downward. "But if 'Abi's your sis now, ain't her mom your mom now? ... She won't let nobody hurtcha. That's what mom's *do*."
Nikashi clicks his ears back. Well. That's true. His Myma always took care of him, even though she may have had an uncouth, uncultured manner of doing it. "Yeah... Moms're good for that.." He mumbles. But you still cn't trust family. Can you even trust friends? His eyes cast to the larger cub again. His mom never had friends. He's always thought he shouldn't, either. But having someone big like that on his side isn't a /bad/ thing, either. "Okay. Just don't play so rough with me, kay? I'm older, but yer bigger." He sniffs. Then considers. "... I betcha if you keep /gettin'/ bigger, one day you'll be able t' take down an ellerphunt."
Tzik nods, then grins widely. "Heheheh. Yeah!" He drops to his belly with a playful growl. "Jus' like it was a rabbit 'er sumthin'." Friends were never spoken against, at least so far, in Tzik's upbringing. His mother had plenty, as far as he could tell. And Sarabi was his friend, which meant they hung out and looked out for each other. Or he looked out for her. Something like that.
Nikashi smirks. "Yeah. Just 'Magine how much food ya could get offa one of those. I betcha you could eat forever." His ears fleck forward a bit, as one snaggly tooth shows at the corner of his lower jaw. Nikashi then tilts his head in thought. "... Are you, like.. All mooshy for that Sarabi? Like the 'dults do, all th' lickin' an' nozin' and purrin' an stuff.."
Tzik straightens up again, then looks at his feet. "I just like her s'all." Wait. "..but this one other kid, at the ravine? He was beatin' up on her. So I beat up on him. And then she did that nozin thing at my neck." He lifts his chin as if to show a mark left on him where she rubbed her head. Silly Tzikie.
Nikashi, being one of slightly good imagination, stares; wether the mark actually exists or not, Nikashi seems to think he can see it, eyes wide, ears laying slightly back. "Whoooaaa.. you mighta got 'Fected there. Girls got cooties and they make you all.. Silly an' stuff for'em.." he murmurs. "Make you wanna be all... Purty an' nice, an' bring'em stuff, and make'em say girlie things about you.."
Tzik lowers his chin, eyes wider. "What's cooties?" They sound scary. "...I dunno if I'm 'fected." He figits a little, tensing and relaxing his paws. "You'd tell me if I was, right?"
Nikashi nodnods. "I don't think ya are, but I can't tell from a glance. If a girl starts bein' really nice to ya, and stuff, though, you definetly got it." He nods. "And if you start to look like a flamingo, all pink an' stuff, you've got it /really/ bad."
Tzik looks down at his fur. He's still kinda whiteish. Bone colored. "You'd tell me if I looked pink. Right?" He whimpers. "You ever had it, Nika?"
Nikashi shakes his head. "Nosuh. Never had it." He says, before looking Tzik over. "An' No, I wouldn't say you look pink. You're too white to be pink." He says, nodding. "But no, I ain't never had it. C'os I ain't never been touched by a girl. -- Zira don't count, she's not a girl, she ain't nothin' but a sister." He says.
Tzik narrows his eyes in thought, looking away again. "So you get it from touchin'? ... everytime yuh'touch? Or just *sometimes?*" He takes a deep breath. "Yer older, you *gotta* know!"
The wind picks up and hisses softly, twirling amongst the grasses. There seems to be a voice on it: a high-pitched giggle. The breeze is suddenly very chilly, and the faintest scent of decay can be detected.
One ear flecks at a near imperceivable giggle in the air-- he thought he heard something. He turns toward what could have been a sound, but appears to be just the wind. A cold wind, no less. Nikashi turns towards Tzik, unable to supress a shiver. "Well, it depends. The worse /they/ got it, the easier it is for /you/ to get it. .. Does she take a lotta baths?"
Tzik frowns deeply, unknowingly: the fool in the face of a life-or-death question. "I dunno! I don't watch her all the time!" he whines, a shiver going up his back. His ears instinctively perk at he strange sound, but he doesn't pay much heed to it. Cooties are scary too.
Nikashi flecks his ears back at that odd chill. He frowns, a moment, before he murmurs, "... Musta been just hearin' things." To himself, before looking back to Tzik. "Well, ask'er. If she takes, like, more'n one bath a day, she's probably got the cooties. If she doesn't she might be all right, like Zira."
The wind picks up even more, and the temperature begins to drop. The laughter is more apparent, and mists begin to filter in, washing over those gathered.
Tzik ducks a little bit as it gets suddenly colder, his fur bristling. "You hear that, Nika?" Please tell me I'm not crazy.
Nikashi slicks his ears back, eyes wide, and looking up at the mists, murmuring, "Are you /seeing/ this?" To Tzik. He utters an odd, half-whimper, before he shuffles closer to Tzik; uncommonly close, in fact. "It's so cold!" he gulps! tail tuft puffing out a bit. Being wetter than Tzik is at the moment, even now, likly has more of an effect on him!
The mist closes in even more, curling in strange tendrils around the paws and faces of the two cubs. It's as though ghostly fingers are exploring the tangible bodies of the living creatures. The temperature continues to drop until it's cold enough to fog the breath. Then, it maintains a steady chill. The laughter turns to whispers: soft hisses of conversation that are so far incomprehensible.
Tzik leans right up against the older, skinny, and much damper cub. "Yeah, I see it... and I don't like it." Tzik bristles and unsheathes his claws. But what can claws do against weird weather and windy whispers?
Nikashi gulps, and finds himself doing the same; two bodies leaning against each other. Worse, now he's shaking from the cold. His ears lay back against his head flat and when his breath becomes visible, he start to feel his heart racing. "... I.. Don't think.. this is normal.. Tzik.." he murmurs, eyes wide, body crouching as low to the ground as he can get it.
The mist is so thick now that it's impossible to see anything further than a few inches. The laughter fades to silence, and the faint scent of rotting flesh phases out. Yet the mist and the chill remain, and worse: the thick silence.
Since he's bigger, and dry, Tzik is compelled to protect his new friend, even if he's the younger one. So as Nikashi slides down, Tzik steps to straddle his shoulders, his own breath coming in deep huffs, fogging the air with each exhale. "HEY!" he shouts out... to the silence. Eep.
Nikashi utters a soft waul of noise: "Don't make it angry!" at Tzik, before the silence.. The deadly, deadly silence. And that breif notion of the sickening, sweet, slightly choking scent of decay before it's gone; and only the silence, and the mist remains. He's shivering now. Oh, how he's shivering. Forepaws lift to cover his eyes, as he hides, darker cub neteah light.
Something moves off to the side, causing the fog to roil violently. A blast of overpowering stench slams into the two cubs: death, rot. As suddenly as it comes, it vanishes, only to return when a second something dashes by. The laughter returns--low and menacing--and the faintest hint of a leonine shape appears in the mist ahead.
Tzik shivers and shakes above the older cub. "I... I think it's already mad," he chokes out as he tucks his tail in a bit. Meep. He winces at the strong smell, and struggles to stay on his feet. The laughter only makes him crouch atop Nikashi further.
Oh. My. Bob. What is that SMELL. Nikashi's ears plat so flat they'd like unto melting into his head. His lips wrinkle, that overbite of oo long fangs displayed, as he makes a face most felines don't use often until they're older. It's upon them both fast, like an assault, and Nikashi gasps and then almost chokes, coughing violently at the horredness! he opens his watering eyes in time to think he sees something in the shape ahead; the sillohette of something. "... Tzik.. It's.. It's a lion.." He says, in a hush.
"Why do you cower?" the high-pitched voice whispers. "Why does it make you so afraid? Your fear is amusing." The silhouette fades in the mist, and something again rushes by in the wave of stench
Tzik meeps, and crouches still lower.. then, due to all of the tension and uncertainty - he faints. On top of Nikashi.
It's.. it's worse than a warthog's butt! Oh, my, Bob! His ears lay back, and he begins looking about franticly. He's about to turn and run-- And then suddenly he's all but suffocated by the larger cub, which causes PANIC. "MMMMFFF!" yelps Nikashi as he jerks, tugs, and suddenly scrambles away from Tzik, panting and gasping, and then turns to try and run.
The cub can run, but no matter how fast he moves, he doesn't go anywhere. The mist surrounds him, and no matter how fast or how far his legs move, whenever he looks back, Tzik's unconscious form is still there. The laughter sounds again, loud, long, and cruel. "You would run from your helpless friend?!" the voice shrills. "Youngling, youngling! Such disloyalty!" The silhouette appears /directly/ in front of Nikashi quite suddenly, and this time it's clearer. The form is of a thin, sinewy lion who crouches low to the ground. His narrow eyes seem to pierce right through flesh.
Nikashi skids to a hault, eyes wide, mouth agape, his ears flattered back. Shaking, the wet cub stares at the thin creature before him, struck with absolute horror like he's felt only once in his life: the day he and his mother encountered the rabid hyena that changed their lifes forever. Claws splay before him as he sinks backwards, crouching, frozen.
"Youngling," the lion hisses again, his image wavering slightly. His body is now full of deep gouges, and most of the flesh on his skull has been torn off, revealing bloody bone beneath. Both eyes are gone, and his lower jaw is missing. His tongue hangs from his open throat. "Youngling, you must learn to face this terror of yours. You will see things--things that are not there. And none other shall see them. This you are blessed with." The image wavers again; the lion is returned to normal. He stares directly into the cub's eyes; his own eyes seem to shift in color, just as the mists swirl around them.
A /Blessing/? Seeing this.. This.. Nikashi quivers, and his jaw wags as he struggles to try and speak, to say something but can't seem to find any way /to/ do so, or say anything! At length, his jaw clicks shut as he just gulps.. And nods to the.. the... Ghost? Can't be. No. Can't be. There's no such thing! .... Oh, he hopes.
Something passes over the cub: a blaze of unbearable heat, followed by the bite of extreme chill. Then, the image of the lion begins to fade, along with the mist. "Valley of the Great Kings," the voice is heard to whisper again. "Valley of the Great Kings, under the waxing half-moon." Then, it too fades away. Soon, it's as though nothing happened. The area returns to normal
The sudden calm as it passes over the area, the murmur of the voice in his ears.. Nikashi finds his tongue suddenly dry, and his frame feels heavier than it ever did before. He starts to stand, takes a few feeble, wobbled steps... and then simply passes out a few feet away from Tzik.
The Characters:
Mwiba, ghost of Mwenyezi's past.
Nikashi, grumpy juvenile lion.
Tzik, lion cub.
----
A grunt, ears flecking back breifly, before he grumbles. "Why's everybody always snarlin' at me about Sarabi? That guy the King was talking to about her was all snarly about her too." he frowns, and stands again, before sitting; rubbing at his throat with a forepaw, and coughing, trying to clear a bit from it. ".. She's supposed to be my sister now. I have to be nice to her. Or ... Momma.... Will be... Angry."
Tzik's ears prick at the idea of someone, anyone, being snarly about Sarabi. "Who?" he demands, but calms a bit when Nikashi announces that he will be nice to the young lioness.
Nikashi grunts, ears back. "Bug. I think that's what they call him. He's supposed to teach Sarabi to be something. I don't know what. But everyone who knows about it keeps saying he's not supposed to /kill her/, but at the same time that she could die c'os of it. I heard'em all the other day at the rock, before you showed up."
Tzik looks to the side. He'll have to watch his <3Sarabi more carefully. StalkerTzik! "Kay. You hear anything else and you'll tell me, right?"
Nikashi nods a few times.. before he coughs again. ... He's silent for a moment'rtwo, then says, "... An' sorry I called ya a freak. I just was mad c'os you sat on me, and c'os I.. Mn. I don't really like bein' around all these lions that're tryin' to kill people." ... "... Myma... Just kinda.. left me here.. " A shrug... It's like he's stuck at military scool, only worse!
Tzik tilts his head to one side, then nods. "I didn't mean'tuh play s'rough," he apologizes in turn, casting his eyes downward. "But if 'Abi's your sis now, ain't her mom your mom now? ... She won't let nobody hurtcha. That's what mom's *do*."
Nikashi clicks his ears back. Well. That's true. His Myma always took care of him, even though she may have had an uncouth, uncultured manner of doing it. "Yeah... Moms're good for that.." He mumbles. But you still cn't trust family. Can you even trust friends? His eyes cast to the larger cub again. His mom never had friends. He's always thought he shouldn't, either. But having someone big like that on his side isn't a /bad/ thing, either. "Okay. Just don't play so rough with me, kay? I'm older, but yer bigger." He sniffs. Then considers. "... I betcha if you keep /gettin'/ bigger, one day you'll be able t' take down an ellerphunt."
Tzik nods, then grins widely. "Heheheh. Yeah!" He drops to his belly with a playful growl. "Jus' like it was a rabbit 'er sumthin'." Friends were never spoken against, at least so far, in Tzik's upbringing. His mother had plenty, as far as he could tell. And Sarabi was his friend, which meant they hung out and looked out for each other. Or he looked out for her. Something like that.
Nikashi smirks. "Yeah. Just 'Magine how much food ya could get offa one of those. I betcha you could eat forever." His ears fleck forward a bit, as one snaggly tooth shows at the corner of his lower jaw. Nikashi then tilts his head in thought. "... Are you, like.. All mooshy for that Sarabi? Like the 'dults do, all th' lickin' an' nozin' and purrin' an stuff.."
Tzik straightens up again, then looks at his feet. "I just like her s'all." Wait. "..but this one other kid, at the ravine? He was beatin' up on her. So I beat up on him. And then she did that nozin thing at my neck." He lifts his chin as if to show a mark left on him where she rubbed her head. Silly Tzikie.
Nikashi, being one of slightly good imagination, stares; wether the mark actually exists or not, Nikashi seems to think he can see it, eyes wide, ears laying slightly back. "Whoooaaa.. you mighta got 'Fected there. Girls got cooties and they make you all.. Silly an' stuff for'em.." he murmurs. "Make you wanna be all... Purty an' nice, an' bring'em stuff, and make'em say girlie things about you.."
Tzik lowers his chin, eyes wider. "What's cooties?" They sound scary. "...I dunno if I'm 'fected." He figits a little, tensing and relaxing his paws. "You'd tell me if I was, right?"
Nikashi nodnods. "I don't think ya are, but I can't tell from a glance. If a girl starts bein' really nice to ya, and stuff, though, you definetly got it." He nods. "And if you start to look like a flamingo, all pink an' stuff, you've got it /really/ bad."
Tzik looks down at his fur. He's still kinda whiteish. Bone colored. "You'd tell me if I looked pink. Right?" He whimpers. "You ever had it, Nika?"
Nikashi shakes his head. "Nosuh. Never had it." He says, before looking Tzik over. "An' No, I wouldn't say you look pink. You're too white to be pink." He says, nodding. "But no, I ain't never had it. C'os I ain't never been touched by a girl. -- Zira don't count, she's not a girl, she ain't nothin' but a sister." He says.
Tzik narrows his eyes in thought, looking away again. "So you get it from touchin'? ... everytime yuh'touch? Or just *sometimes?*" He takes a deep breath. "Yer older, you *gotta* know!"
The wind picks up and hisses softly, twirling amongst the grasses. There seems to be a voice on it: a high-pitched giggle. The breeze is suddenly very chilly, and the faintest scent of decay can be detected.
One ear flecks at a near imperceivable giggle in the air-- he thought he heard something. He turns toward what could have been a sound, but appears to be just the wind. A cold wind, no less. Nikashi turns towards Tzik, unable to supress a shiver. "Well, it depends. The worse /they/ got it, the easier it is for /you/ to get it. .. Does she take a lotta baths?"
Tzik frowns deeply, unknowingly: the fool in the face of a life-or-death question. "I dunno! I don't watch her all the time!" he whines, a shiver going up his back. His ears instinctively perk at he strange sound, but he doesn't pay much heed to it. Cooties are scary too.
Nikashi flecks his ears back at that odd chill. He frowns, a moment, before he murmurs, "... Musta been just hearin' things." To himself, before looking back to Tzik. "Well, ask'er. If she takes, like, more'n one bath a day, she's probably got the cooties. If she doesn't she might be all right, like Zira."
The wind picks up even more, and the temperature begins to drop. The laughter is more apparent, and mists begin to filter in, washing over those gathered.
Tzik ducks a little bit as it gets suddenly colder, his fur bristling. "You hear that, Nika?" Please tell me I'm not crazy.
Nikashi slicks his ears back, eyes wide, and looking up at the mists, murmuring, "Are you /seeing/ this?" To Tzik. He utters an odd, half-whimper, before he shuffles closer to Tzik; uncommonly close, in fact. "It's so cold!" he gulps! tail tuft puffing out a bit. Being wetter than Tzik is at the moment, even now, likly has more of an effect on him!
The mist closes in even more, curling in strange tendrils around the paws and faces of the two cubs. It's as though ghostly fingers are exploring the tangible bodies of the living creatures. The temperature continues to drop until it's cold enough to fog the breath. Then, it maintains a steady chill. The laughter turns to whispers: soft hisses of conversation that are so far incomprehensible.
Tzik leans right up against the older, skinny, and much damper cub. "Yeah, I see it... and I don't like it." Tzik bristles and unsheathes his claws. But what can claws do against weird weather and windy whispers?
Nikashi gulps, and finds himself doing the same; two bodies leaning against each other. Worse, now he's shaking from the cold. His ears lay back against his head flat and when his breath becomes visible, he start to feel his heart racing. "... I.. Don't think.. this is normal.. Tzik.." he murmurs, eyes wide, body crouching as low to the ground as he can get it.
The mist is so thick now that it's impossible to see anything further than a few inches. The laughter fades to silence, and the faint scent of rotting flesh phases out. Yet the mist and the chill remain, and worse: the thick silence.
Since he's bigger, and dry, Tzik is compelled to protect his new friend, even if he's the younger one. So as Nikashi slides down, Tzik steps to straddle his shoulders, his own breath coming in deep huffs, fogging the air with each exhale. "HEY!" he shouts out... to the silence. Eep.
Nikashi utters a soft waul of noise: "Don't make it angry!" at Tzik, before the silence.. The deadly, deadly silence. And that breif notion of the sickening, sweet, slightly choking scent of decay before it's gone; and only the silence, and the mist remains. He's shivering now. Oh, how he's shivering. Forepaws lift to cover his eyes, as he hides, darker cub neteah light.
Something moves off to the side, causing the fog to roil violently. A blast of overpowering stench slams into the two cubs: death, rot. As suddenly as it comes, it vanishes, only to return when a second something dashes by. The laughter returns--low and menacing--and the faintest hint of a leonine shape appears in the mist ahead.
Tzik shivers and shakes above the older cub. "I... I think it's already mad," he chokes out as he tucks his tail in a bit. Meep. He winces at the strong smell, and struggles to stay on his feet. The laughter only makes him crouch atop Nikashi further.
Oh. My. Bob. What is that SMELL. Nikashi's ears plat so flat they'd like unto melting into his head. His lips wrinkle, that overbite of oo long fangs displayed, as he makes a face most felines don't use often until they're older. It's upon them both fast, like an assault, and Nikashi gasps and then almost chokes, coughing violently at the horredness! he opens his watering eyes in time to think he sees something in the shape ahead; the sillohette of something. "... Tzik.. It's.. It's a lion.." He says, in a hush.
"Why do you cower?" the high-pitched voice whispers. "Why does it make you so afraid? Your fear is amusing." The silhouette fades in the mist, and something again rushes by in the wave of stench
Tzik meeps, and crouches still lower.. then, due to all of the tension and uncertainty - he faints. On top of Nikashi.
It's.. it's worse than a warthog's butt! Oh, my, Bob! His ears lay back, and he begins looking about franticly. He's about to turn and run-- And then suddenly he's all but suffocated by the larger cub, which causes PANIC. "MMMMFFF!" yelps Nikashi as he jerks, tugs, and suddenly scrambles away from Tzik, panting and gasping, and then turns to try and run.
The cub can run, but no matter how fast he moves, he doesn't go anywhere. The mist surrounds him, and no matter how fast or how far his legs move, whenever he looks back, Tzik's unconscious form is still there. The laughter sounds again, loud, long, and cruel. "You would run from your helpless friend?!" the voice shrills. "Youngling, youngling! Such disloyalty!" The silhouette appears /directly/ in front of Nikashi quite suddenly, and this time it's clearer. The form is of a thin, sinewy lion who crouches low to the ground. His narrow eyes seem to pierce right through flesh.
Nikashi skids to a hault, eyes wide, mouth agape, his ears flattered back. Shaking, the wet cub stares at the thin creature before him, struck with absolute horror like he's felt only once in his life: the day he and his mother encountered the rabid hyena that changed their lifes forever. Claws splay before him as he sinks backwards, crouching, frozen.
"Youngling," the lion hisses again, his image wavering slightly. His body is now full of deep gouges, and most of the flesh on his skull has been torn off, revealing bloody bone beneath. Both eyes are gone, and his lower jaw is missing. His tongue hangs from his open throat. "Youngling, you must learn to face this terror of yours. You will see things--things that are not there. And none other shall see them. This you are blessed with." The image wavers again; the lion is returned to normal. He stares directly into the cub's eyes; his own eyes seem to shift in color, just as the mists swirl around them.
A /Blessing/? Seeing this.. This.. Nikashi quivers, and his jaw wags as he struggles to try and speak, to say something but can't seem to find any way /to/ do so, or say anything! At length, his jaw clicks shut as he just gulps.. And nods to the.. the... Ghost? Can't be. No. Can't be. There's no such thing! .... Oh, he hopes.
Something passes over the cub: a blaze of unbearable heat, followed by the bite of extreme chill. Then, the image of the lion begins to fade, along with the mist. "Valley of the Great Kings," the voice is heard to whisper again. "Valley of the Great Kings, under the waxing half-moon." Then, it too fades away. Soon, it's as though nothing happened. The area returns to normal
The sudden calm as it passes over the area, the murmur of the voice in his ears.. Nikashi finds his tongue suddenly dry, and his frame feels heavier than it ever did before. He starts to stand, takes a few feeble, wobbled steps... and then simply passes out a few feet away from Tzik.