Post by Therdde on Dec 20, 2009 17:37:05 GMT -5
Characters:
Maul - Female Juvenile Cougar
Kein - Male Cougar (NPCed by Qaletaqa)
Qaletaqa - Male Cougar
- Pine Grove -
Nothing lasts forever. Maul knows that, in theory, but that hasn't stopped her from being in the pine grove almost every day, trying to touch up her "art", or else just admiring it. It's a losing battle, of course. The border has been all but destroyed, and even the parts that remain have been covered over with fresh pine needles, making it unrecognizable as what it is supposed to be. Whatever outline there was, originally, has also been covered in with needles. Still, Maul imagines she can see it as clear as ever, as she lies in a branch just a few feet above her creation.
With the degree of degeneration the artwork has suffered, it's a wonder that it hasn't already been disturbed by something. That dubious honour falls on the unlucky Chieftain as he strides amongst the pine needles, one patch of ground looking much the same as the next under the trees. Qale's scent is everywhere here, his favoured location, and perhaps that is where Kein's mind is. Or, he just hasn't seen what didn't particularly look like a cougar in the first place. Either way, he doesn't slow before nor during his plowing through the artwork, right under its creator's eyes. Oh dear.
Maul scarcely notices her father's approach. She has received all the lectures that everyone else has about safety, but she's up here in a tree. What does she need to worry about being safe from, a squirrel? In her daydreaming state, she does not see her father until... "No!" Her exclamation comes far too late, as does her hurried leap out of the tree, a leap that results in her landing somewhat less than gracefully. As she looks on the "destroyed" picture she made of Qale, she is overcome by preadolescent hormones that she truly doesn't understand, especially when they combine with the thoughts that are far too adult for the still very young girl to be thinking.
The shout and the thud results in Kein whipping around as quickly as he can to see his daughter sprawled amongst the pine needles. All concern, he lopes the few steps back towards Maul. "Maul! Are you alright? Did you fall?" Of course, in returning to where she is, he has managed to place his forepaws squarely in the scattered remains of Maul's handiwork. His ex-neck, to be precise. Of course, he still has no idea - he's busy looking her over to make sure she's alright. If she isn't...well, at least they're in the right place to find a healer. The thought makes him frown and he leans closer to her, just in case things are not all well.
He does it again! It's deliberate. She's certain it is. Kein was *mean* to Qale when Maul was just trying to help him a little, and now that... now that... Well, he's going to *ruin* it all! Maul throws herself at her father, to try to keep him from destroying any more than he already has. "Go *away*! You're destroying *everything*!" Never before has Maul physically attacked her father. Even now, teeth and claws do not even begin to enter the equation. She would be terrified to try to bite or claw at Kein. And, truthfully, her small body is not enough to push Kein back, as she wants to. It doesn't stop her from trying, most enthusiastically, though.
While she is not powerful enough, the sheer shock that she would fly at him so desperately causes Kein to draw his head back in surprise, his brow knitting. While he and his daughter have butted heads before, it hasn't been like this. Perhaps she has only just awoken, and mistakes him for somebody else, destroying...something. Maybe it's the waking remnant of a dream. Yes, that...that could be it. Perhaps more a memory than a dream. A violent one. As she pushes and batters at him, Kein tries to keep his voice calm and soothing, shaken by the reaction though he is. "Hey now, calm down, Maul. It's just me, it's your father," he tries, tilting his head.
It's not an unreasonable assumption. She has seen many others, both friends and foes, in mere shadows before. Why couldn't she be seeing those same friends or foes in the forms of real, living cougars? That's not what this is, though. Such a thing has never happened before, and it isn't happening now. "Why?!" The anguished question is combined with a moistness in the young female's eyes and a single sniff as she attempts to avoid letting those tears fall. "Why do you have to try to wreck everything for me?!" No, her accusations are not fair, but Maul, for all the things she can remember, and for all of the things she knows, is still only a young child experiencing her first crush. The girl can handle matters of life and death, visions where blood has soaked the ground, but *this*, her father walking over a nonexistent image on the ground, threatens to overwhelm her.
The accusation cuts Kein to the quick. She's looking at him, she knows who it is, and yet she's still so upset. He pauses for a long moment before lowering himself to the ground. He doesn't know what it is he's done wrong, but he's determined to calm her down and find out. "What's wrong, Maul? What have..." He frowns, taking another glance around. Has he completely missed something? "What have I done?" She could still be referring to something she's remembering, but she seems so upset with him in the here and now...
"I made a picture of him, and he *liked* it, and you ruined it!" Maul gestures to the ground around them with a motion of her head. Immediately after she does so, though, she attempts to bury her head in her father's fur, trying to hide the few tears that have fallen. She is most definitely still angry with him, but he's the only one here she can try to take comfort from.
'Him'? Who is 'him'? With where Kein's mind has been going, he instantly assumes it is a past memory she shouldn't have resurfacing. Wrapping a large paw about his young daughter he clasps her close, laying his nose against the top of her head. "It's okay, it's okay..." Then something hits him. She said he liked it. And the last time he checked, strange memories were memories nonetheless, not...spectres. Not ethereal figures that could like something. Which means she must be speaking of somebody real. And the closest male in the area is...
If it was an accident, he would have apologized. She explained it, now, and he doesn't even try to apologize. Oh, he does his best to comfort her, but Maul reads something much more sinister into her father's confusion about how to handle all of her eccentricities. He destroyed it, and just as she was about to forgive him, he refused to apologize, and is, instead, going to hold her here against him, where she can't... "No!" Maul attempts to buck off her father's heavy paw. She'll have to run and find him, and then... What? Can she convince him to leave, that her father has decided to be mean to him again? And what of her? Could she leave with him? /Would/ she? "Let me *go*!" Ah, leave it to a preadolescent girl to thrive on drama.
Though he could easily hold her still, Kein lifts his paw to allow her to retreat, equal parts sadness and confusion peppered with a healthy dose of suspicion. It's the latter that keeps him from apologizing. "Maul," he asks softly, unable to contain the question. "Whose picture did you make...?" And somewhere, close by, a young cougar's ears burn as he hears faintly a pair of familiar voices and begins to lope his unsuspecting way towards them.
Maul stares at her father for a moment, her eyes still holding several unfallen tears, even as they're filled with anger. That anger echoes in her voice as she says, "I made a picture of Qale, 'cause I love him. More than I love *you*." When she is older, perhaps, and better capable of handling all of her conflicting thoughts and emotions, which is difficult for any girl her age, though perhaps more so for her, Maul will probably feel guilt over having said things like that to Kein. She truly doesn't mean them, but in this moment, she *thinks* she does. She thinks her father is being horribly mean and unfair, and how could she not love Qaletaqa more than she loves Kein? Qaletaqa is never mean, any more, and even the few times he was mean, he apologized early on.
Having become very familiar with the grove, Qaletaqa is sure where the voices are coming from, and approaches at an easy trot with his ears pricked forward. He is intent on saying hello, he really is, but the tones of voice give him pause. But the tones do not prepare him for the words that he hears once he is close enough to both hear and see clearly what is going on. His voice, the greeting, dies in his throat. In fact, his whole throat just goes spontaneously dry, which is odd because his pawpads have suddenly sprung out into a cold sweat. His eyes are round and huge. What...what did Maul just say?!
Maul - Female Juvenile Cougar
Kein - Male Cougar (NPCed by Qaletaqa)
Qaletaqa - Male Cougar
- Pine Grove -
Nothing lasts forever. Maul knows that, in theory, but that hasn't stopped her from being in the pine grove almost every day, trying to touch up her "art", or else just admiring it. It's a losing battle, of course. The border has been all but destroyed, and even the parts that remain have been covered over with fresh pine needles, making it unrecognizable as what it is supposed to be. Whatever outline there was, originally, has also been covered in with needles. Still, Maul imagines she can see it as clear as ever, as she lies in a branch just a few feet above her creation.
With the degree of degeneration the artwork has suffered, it's a wonder that it hasn't already been disturbed by something. That dubious honour falls on the unlucky Chieftain as he strides amongst the pine needles, one patch of ground looking much the same as the next under the trees. Qale's scent is everywhere here, his favoured location, and perhaps that is where Kein's mind is. Or, he just hasn't seen what didn't particularly look like a cougar in the first place. Either way, he doesn't slow before nor during his plowing through the artwork, right under its creator's eyes. Oh dear.
Maul scarcely notices her father's approach. She has received all the lectures that everyone else has about safety, but she's up here in a tree. What does she need to worry about being safe from, a squirrel? In her daydreaming state, she does not see her father until... "No!" Her exclamation comes far too late, as does her hurried leap out of the tree, a leap that results in her landing somewhat less than gracefully. As she looks on the "destroyed" picture she made of Qale, she is overcome by preadolescent hormones that she truly doesn't understand, especially when they combine with the thoughts that are far too adult for the still very young girl to be thinking.
The shout and the thud results in Kein whipping around as quickly as he can to see his daughter sprawled amongst the pine needles. All concern, he lopes the few steps back towards Maul. "Maul! Are you alright? Did you fall?" Of course, in returning to where she is, he has managed to place his forepaws squarely in the scattered remains of Maul's handiwork. His ex-neck, to be precise. Of course, he still has no idea - he's busy looking her over to make sure she's alright. If she isn't...well, at least they're in the right place to find a healer. The thought makes him frown and he leans closer to her, just in case things are not all well.
He does it again! It's deliberate. She's certain it is. Kein was *mean* to Qale when Maul was just trying to help him a little, and now that... now that... Well, he's going to *ruin* it all! Maul throws herself at her father, to try to keep him from destroying any more than he already has. "Go *away*! You're destroying *everything*!" Never before has Maul physically attacked her father. Even now, teeth and claws do not even begin to enter the equation. She would be terrified to try to bite or claw at Kein. And, truthfully, her small body is not enough to push Kein back, as she wants to. It doesn't stop her from trying, most enthusiastically, though.
While she is not powerful enough, the sheer shock that she would fly at him so desperately causes Kein to draw his head back in surprise, his brow knitting. While he and his daughter have butted heads before, it hasn't been like this. Perhaps she has only just awoken, and mistakes him for somebody else, destroying...something. Maybe it's the waking remnant of a dream. Yes, that...that could be it. Perhaps more a memory than a dream. A violent one. As she pushes and batters at him, Kein tries to keep his voice calm and soothing, shaken by the reaction though he is. "Hey now, calm down, Maul. It's just me, it's your father," he tries, tilting his head.
It's not an unreasonable assumption. She has seen many others, both friends and foes, in mere shadows before. Why couldn't she be seeing those same friends or foes in the forms of real, living cougars? That's not what this is, though. Such a thing has never happened before, and it isn't happening now. "Why?!" The anguished question is combined with a moistness in the young female's eyes and a single sniff as she attempts to avoid letting those tears fall. "Why do you have to try to wreck everything for me?!" No, her accusations are not fair, but Maul, for all the things she can remember, and for all of the things she knows, is still only a young child experiencing her first crush. The girl can handle matters of life and death, visions where blood has soaked the ground, but *this*, her father walking over a nonexistent image on the ground, threatens to overwhelm her.
The accusation cuts Kein to the quick. She's looking at him, she knows who it is, and yet she's still so upset. He pauses for a long moment before lowering himself to the ground. He doesn't know what it is he's done wrong, but he's determined to calm her down and find out. "What's wrong, Maul? What have..." He frowns, taking another glance around. Has he completely missed something? "What have I done?" She could still be referring to something she's remembering, but she seems so upset with him in the here and now...
"I made a picture of him, and he *liked* it, and you ruined it!" Maul gestures to the ground around them with a motion of her head. Immediately after she does so, though, she attempts to bury her head in her father's fur, trying to hide the few tears that have fallen. She is most definitely still angry with him, but he's the only one here she can try to take comfort from.
'Him'? Who is 'him'? With where Kein's mind has been going, he instantly assumes it is a past memory she shouldn't have resurfacing. Wrapping a large paw about his young daughter he clasps her close, laying his nose against the top of her head. "It's okay, it's okay..." Then something hits him. She said he liked it. And the last time he checked, strange memories were memories nonetheless, not...spectres. Not ethereal figures that could like something. Which means she must be speaking of somebody real. And the closest male in the area is...
If it was an accident, he would have apologized. She explained it, now, and he doesn't even try to apologize. Oh, he does his best to comfort her, but Maul reads something much more sinister into her father's confusion about how to handle all of her eccentricities. He destroyed it, and just as she was about to forgive him, he refused to apologize, and is, instead, going to hold her here against him, where she can't... "No!" Maul attempts to buck off her father's heavy paw. She'll have to run and find him, and then... What? Can she convince him to leave, that her father has decided to be mean to him again? And what of her? Could she leave with him? /Would/ she? "Let me *go*!" Ah, leave it to a preadolescent girl to thrive on drama.
Though he could easily hold her still, Kein lifts his paw to allow her to retreat, equal parts sadness and confusion peppered with a healthy dose of suspicion. It's the latter that keeps him from apologizing. "Maul," he asks softly, unable to contain the question. "Whose picture did you make...?" And somewhere, close by, a young cougar's ears burn as he hears faintly a pair of familiar voices and begins to lope his unsuspecting way towards them.
Maul stares at her father for a moment, her eyes still holding several unfallen tears, even as they're filled with anger. That anger echoes in her voice as she says, "I made a picture of Qale, 'cause I love him. More than I love *you*." When she is older, perhaps, and better capable of handling all of her conflicting thoughts and emotions, which is difficult for any girl her age, though perhaps more so for her, Maul will probably feel guilt over having said things like that to Kein. She truly doesn't mean them, but in this moment, she *thinks* she does. She thinks her father is being horribly mean and unfair, and how could she not love Qaletaqa more than she loves Kein? Qaletaqa is never mean, any more, and even the few times he was mean, he apologized early on.
Having become very familiar with the grove, Qaletaqa is sure where the voices are coming from, and approaches at an easy trot with his ears pricked forward. He is intent on saying hello, he really is, but the tones of voice give him pause. But the tones do not prepare him for the words that he hears once he is close enough to both hear and see clearly what is going on. His voice, the greeting, dies in his throat. In fact, his whole throat just goes spontaneously dry, which is odd because his pawpads have suddenly sprung out into a cold sweat. His eyes are round and huge. What...what did Maul just say?!