Post by Nyssa on May 1, 2010 12:58:12 GMT -5
The Wooded Terrain
Kein, Nyssa
The bare trees have begun to shed the snow that has collected on them through the winter as the temperatures most days creep to just above the freezing point. This has done nothing to make it easier to travel on the mountain, but with this sign that winter is approaching its end, the chieftain of these lands has taken it upon himself to once again establish his territory. It has never quite reached to the lake, and even now, Kein is not as far north as he would be in warmer seasons, but it is much further north than he would normally be as he traces his own stale, almost nonexistent scent. Currently, the middle-aged cougar is using one of the trees to stretch and sharpen his claws, dulled from the months of soft snow and lack of their usual exercise.
The lake. She had been taking her time, traveling cautiously but purposefully around the body of water, stopping only a few times to rest and hunt. The hunting was meager, but the plentiful season was again approaching again, and a full stomach was not far away. Still, it wasn't her stomach that drove her this far. Many days would she sit, statuesque, eyes closed and ears alert... listening, listening to some inner sound that no bird or other nearby creature could have possibly heard. She had stopped again, near to an ancient and towering tree, her eyes looking back to the long path that she had recently traversed. The wind picked up and played with her whiskers, and her maw parted to taste the air around her. "I-- I don't understand," she replied, her forehead furrowed with an aching confusion. Then... her ears twist to a new sound, an audible sound, the catching of claws on bark. The young female makes no move to investigate, remaining next to her guardian tree, and peers into the thicker part of the forest.
After taking the opportunity to stretch not only his claws, but also many of the tight muscles in his body, Kein drops his forepaws back to the ground, as of yet unaware that there is someone very, very nearby. Not, that is, until the same wind that caught on Nyssa's whiskers brings her scent, dulled by the trees and distance, to him. Then, he knows immediately that somewhere not terribly far off is a cougaress decidedly not of Amaranth, and though there is none of the aggression he has shown when introduced to new females while around one of his tribe members, he does not hesitate to walk against the wind that brought him the new scent, investigating where the female did not.
She stays still, not frozen with fear but simply allowing her nerves to still themselves; anxiety can get a creature killed. It is easier to approach the world with a calm mind than one that runs purely by action and reaction. Nyssa's eyes are bright and alert, not wide with fear, and carefully does she pick her way around the tree until with a great calmness about her, sits back on her haunches and waits. It does not take long. The sound was not far off when she heard it, and the wind only brought it to her gently; not with the rush of urgency she might expect a hostile creature to demand. Even so... the male's figure is easy to distinguish as he approaches, that tell-tale sign of authority, knowningness... yet something in his sense of self is disturbing the air around him, bending the trees back with a frightened sharpness. Her ears perceive this, her eyes privy to the smallest of motions. But none of this is shared and instead with silent purpose she stands to greet him, but making no movement to approach the male directly.
What a pleasant break from young cougaresses stumbling blindly into his territory and, only once there, cowering from him. This female... Whether their current position may, once, have been his land, he could not fault her for being here when he has scarcely visited this area through the whole of winter, and although she does not challenge him, she does not cower, does not threaten to run in a way that has implied to him, every time it has happened in the past, that there is something distrustful about the prey-like cougars who have done so. It is refreshing, and with his loosened limbs, sharpened claws, and refreshed mood, his tone is as pleasant as it has ever been with a stranger when he says, most simply, "Hello." Pleasant, yes. Polite. But there is no way to mistake his tone as anything resembling genuinely friendly.
As it should be; the natural way of things. There is still something about the male before her that is not quite right, not fully at ease, but it is not her place to judge. Simply... observance. His reservedness, as well as hers, needs no justification. Kein's greeting, pleasurable but measured, is returned in kind with a nod of her head. "Hello," she echos, lifting her chin as she looks on him further. The red markings on his pelt speak of something, something very powerful, but as to what she cannot ascertain. He feels both familiar and worldly distant, and it is this strange nuance that pulls her two steps closer to him, intrigued. Her face is a mask, and though she clearly eyes him up and down, the purpose, the feeling behind that examination is left unsaid.
Kein remains incredibly observant as the female approaches him. The brown marking in her fur does not go entirely unnoticed, but neither could he replicate the exact design if asked to do so right now, as he focuses primarily on the parts of her that include her teeth and claws. Breaking almost completely from his norm, he does not demand anything of her. Rather, he says, "I am Kein, chieftain of this territory." Let her do with that what she will. There is nothing whatsoever familiar about this cougaress, nothing that would imply that he should be wary.
"An honor, Chieftain," she replies, pausing her forward progress to do so. A long time has passed since words of that nature graced her maw, though she is not surprised when they do. Many creatures, many entities, in her life are held in high regard, and though she has not seen or spoken with her brothers and sisters since she left, her tribe, any tribe, is expected to be greeted in kind. "I am called Nyssa. I--" She wonders, then, is Kein's tribe the same as her own; the same thoughts, the same beliefs, the same laws? Perhaps not. "I am a wanderer; a listener. My search has brought me here." To what end? The silent question that she expects from him is answered with the slightest shake of her head. She does not yet know.
"And what is it that you seek?" Kein is automatically set on edge by the idea that someone would come here specifically seeking something, because that has seldom ended well for him, in the past. Still, he remains standing where he is, and though his tone is slightly harsher, he seems no more likely to attack now than he did when he first approached Nyssa.
"I do not know. My spirit has pointed me here, and yet... I cannot understand why." Nyssa stops then, having looked away from Kein back to where hr paws carried her around the lake, trying to understand what it is her Guide was trying to tell her only moments ago but still finding herself unable to. She exhales quietly and turns her eyes to the male once again, feeling once again the air around him grow tense and uneasy. "Your markings," she asks, her voice gentle but full with a need to know an answer, "Do they-- are you... familiar with the teachings? Your Guide... I-- I do not feel them here..."
Surprisingly, the awkward questions set Kein at ease once more, if only because it seems, now, that Nyssa ought to fit right in, in this territory. "You would be better off speaking to my mate, or perhaps one of my daughters. Such matters are left to the females, here, and even if they weren't... I was born to this land, but I was not raised here." There will always be some part of him that will be as foreign to Amaranth as any newcomer to the territory.
"They are different," Nyssa replies almost sheepishly, still tracing the red marks across his pelt. She can't quite understand their meaning, though likely, Kein couldn't fathom hers, either. The female finds herself wondering, though, if this is where she was to go. The familiarity of the surrounding woods, of Kein's markings... but yet it all seems so different at the same time. "I apologize. I have not seen my tribe in sometime. I did not realize that there might be another tribe besides mine own, or that they would see things differently." And now she feels foolish, and she looks away from Kein, eyes withdrawn and expression pensive.
A thin smile appears on Kein's maw, and disappears just as quickly as it appeared. "Well, as I said, these things are better discussed with the females of this tribe. If you want the opportunity to do so, you would be welcome here. Of course, the final determination is up to my mate, but she is a kind cougaress, and she has never yet turned away anyone I allowed into our land." Kein, clearly, doesn't give a great deal of thought to the more spiritual side of Amaranth. Or, at least, he doesn't like to imply that he does. His business is ensuring the security of this land. Nothing more.
"Your... mate... has she told you of your Guide? I only ask because--" Nyssa pauses there, unable to place what is on her mind into any coherent words, so used to relying on herself and her own thoughts without needing to convey anything to another individual. Just her, and her Guide, and they never talked that much to begin with. "-- because there is something ill at ease in the air around you. It's... probably none of my business, but I feel as though I was directed here for some purpose or another." Yet, she feels that speaking to Kein about his personal problems just doesn't feel right. "I apologize," she offers again, turning aware from Kein as though she were going to leave and yet she doesn't move. "Nothing is very clear to me right now. It is not right to bother you with these things."
"You're right. It is none of your business." Anything about Kein that might have suggested he was relaxed, or even amused, is completely gone now. Still, Kein is well used to not getting on particularly well with many of the females of the tribe. "But since you've brought it up, I've guided myself and my tribe just fine, to this point, and I will continue to do so. Should you like to talk to the Sisters here about /their/ guides, you may be better off referring to them as totems. I think you'd be better understood." Now, having grown tired of the roller coaster of emotions the female has inspired in him in such a short period, he turns away from her, too. "If you'll excuse me, Nyssa, I still have much to do today." A social creature, Kein is not.
She watches him leave, unsurprised when he does. She is not upset, not like anyone else might be, or should be, but she is concerned. Perhaps the best word is confused. The wind follows in Kein's wake, coming up from behind her and swirling around him, pushing him back to the woods and away from her. Nyssa shakes her head, smoothing down her whiskers once the sudden whirlwind has passed. She lifts her head and exhales, green eyes longingly gazing skyward. "I told you, I don't understand."
Kein, Nyssa
The bare trees have begun to shed the snow that has collected on them through the winter as the temperatures most days creep to just above the freezing point. This has done nothing to make it easier to travel on the mountain, but with this sign that winter is approaching its end, the chieftain of these lands has taken it upon himself to once again establish his territory. It has never quite reached to the lake, and even now, Kein is not as far north as he would be in warmer seasons, but it is much further north than he would normally be as he traces his own stale, almost nonexistent scent. Currently, the middle-aged cougar is using one of the trees to stretch and sharpen his claws, dulled from the months of soft snow and lack of their usual exercise.
The lake. She had been taking her time, traveling cautiously but purposefully around the body of water, stopping only a few times to rest and hunt. The hunting was meager, but the plentiful season was again approaching again, and a full stomach was not far away. Still, it wasn't her stomach that drove her this far. Many days would she sit, statuesque, eyes closed and ears alert... listening, listening to some inner sound that no bird or other nearby creature could have possibly heard. She had stopped again, near to an ancient and towering tree, her eyes looking back to the long path that she had recently traversed. The wind picked up and played with her whiskers, and her maw parted to taste the air around her. "I-- I don't understand," she replied, her forehead furrowed with an aching confusion. Then... her ears twist to a new sound, an audible sound, the catching of claws on bark. The young female makes no move to investigate, remaining next to her guardian tree, and peers into the thicker part of the forest.
After taking the opportunity to stretch not only his claws, but also many of the tight muscles in his body, Kein drops his forepaws back to the ground, as of yet unaware that there is someone very, very nearby. Not, that is, until the same wind that caught on Nyssa's whiskers brings her scent, dulled by the trees and distance, to him. Then, he knows immediately that somewhere not terribly far off is a cougaress decidedly not of Amaranth, and though there is none of the aggression he has shown when introduced to new females while around one of his tribe members, he does not hesitate to walk against the wind that brought him the new scent, investigating where the female did not.
She stays still, not frozen with fear but simply allowing her nerves to still themselves; anxiety can get a creature killed. It is easier to approach the world with a calm mind than one that runs purely by action and reaction. Nyssa's eyes are bright and alert, not wide with fear, and carefully does she pick her way around the tree until with a great calmness about her, sits back on her haunches and waits. It does not take long. The sound was not far off when she heard it, and the wind only brought it to her gently; not with the rush of urgency she might expect a hostile creature to demand. Even so... the male's figure is easy to distinguish as he approaches, that tell-tale sign of authority, knowningness... yet something in his sense of self is disturbing the air around him, bending the trees back with a frightened sharpness. Her ears perceive this, her eyes privy to the smallest of motions. But none of this is shared and instead with silent purpose she stands to greet him, but making no movement to approach the male directly.
What a pleasant break from young cougaresses stumbling blindly into his territory and, only once there, cowering from him. This female... Whether their current position may, once, have been his land, he could not fault her for being here when he has scarcely visited this area through the whole of winter, and although she does not challenge him, she does not cower, does not threaten to run in a way that has implied to him, every time it has happened in the past, that there is something distrustful about the prey-like cougars who have done so. It is refreshing, and with his loosened limbs, sharpened claws, and refreshed mood, his tone is as pleasant as it has ever been with a stranger when he says, most simply, "Hello." Pleasant, yes. Polite. But there is no way to mistake his tone as anything resembling genuinely friendly.
As it should be; the natural way of things. There is still something about the male before her that is not quite right, not fully at ease, but it is not her place to judge. Simply... observance. His reservedness, as well as hers, needs no justification. Kein's greeting, pleasurable but measured, is returned in kind with a nod of her head. "Hello," she echos, lifting her chin as she looks on him further. The red markings on his pelt speak of something, something very powerful, but as to what she cannot ascertain. He feels both familiar and worldly distant, and it is this strange nuance that pulls her two steps closer to him, intrigued. Her face is a mask, and though she clearly eyes him up and down, the purpose, the feeling behind that examination is left unsaid.
Kein remains incredibly observant as the female approaches him. The brown marking in her fur does not go entirely unnoticed, but neither could he replicate the exact design if asked to do so right now, as he focuses primarily on the parts of her that include her teeth and claws. Breaking almost completely from his norm, he does not demand anything of her. Rather, he says, "I am Kein, chieftain of this territory." Let her do with that what she will. There is nothing whatsoever familiar about this cougaress, nothing that would imply that he should be wary.
"An honor, Chieftain," she replies, pausing her forward progress to do so. A long time has passed since words of that nature graced her maw, though she is not surprised when they do. Many creatures, many entities, in her life are held in high regard, and though she has not seen or spoken with her brothers and sisters since she left, her tribe, any tribe, is expected to be greeted in kind. "I am called Nyssa. I--" She wonders, then, is Kein's tribe the same as her own; the same thoughts, the same beliefs, the same laws? Perhaps not. "I am a wanderer; a listener. My search has brought me here." To what end? The silent question that she expects from him is answered with the slightest shake of her head. She does not yet know.
"And what is it that you seek?" Kein is automatically set on edge by the idea that someone would come here specifically seeking something, because that has seldom ended well for him, in the past. Still, he remains standing where he is, and though his tone is slightly harsher, he seems no more likely to attack now than he did when he first approached Nyssa.
"I do not know. My spirit has pointed me here, and yet... I cannot understand why." Nyssa stops then, having looked away from Kein back to where hr paws carried her around the lake, trying to understand what it is her Guide was trying to tell her only moments ago but still finding herself unable to. She exhales quietly and turns her eyes to the male once again, feeling once again the air around him grow tense and uneasy. "Your markings," she asks, her voice gentle but full with a need to know an answer, "Do they-- are you... familiar with the teachings? Your Guide... I-- I do not feel them here..."
Surprisingly, the awkward questions set Kein at ease once more, if only because it seems, now, that Nyssa ought to fit right in, in this territory. "You would be better off speaking to my mate, or perhaps one of my daughters. Such matters are left to the females, here, and even if they weren't... I was born to this land, but I was not raised here." There will always be some part of him that will be as foreign to Amaranth as any newcomer to the territory.
"They are different," Nyssa replies almost sheepishly, still tracing the red marks across his pelt. She can't quite understand their meaning, though likely, Kein couldn't fathom hers, either. The female finds herself wondering, though, if this is where she was to go. The familiarity of the surrounding woods, of Kein's markings... but yet it all seems so different at the same time. "I apologize. I have not seen my tribe in sometime. I did not realize that there might be another tribe besides mine own, or that they would see things differently." And now she feels foolish, and she looks away from Kein, eyes withdrawn and expression pensive.
A thin smile appears on Kein's maw, and disappears just as quickly as it appeared. "Well, as I said, these things are better discussed with the females of this tribe. If you want the opportunity to do so, you would be welcome here. Of course, the final determination is up to my mate, but she is a kind cougaress, and she has never yet turned away anyone I allowed into our land." Kein, clearly, doesn't give a great deal of thought to the more spiritual side of Amaranth. Or, at least, he doesn't like to imply that he does. His business is ensuring the security of this land. Nothing more.
"Your... mate... has she told you of your Guide? I only ask because--" Nyssa pauses there, unable to place what is on her mind into any coherent words, so used to relying on herself and her own thoughts without needing to convey anything to another individual. Just her, and her Guide, and they never talked that much to begin with. "-- because there is something ill at ease in the air around you. It's... probably none of my business, but I feel as though I was directed here for some purpose or another." Yet, she feels that speaking to Kein about his personal problems just doesn't feel right. "I apologize," she offers again, turning aware from Kein as though she were going to leave and yet she doesn't move. "Nothing is very clear to me right now. It is not right to bother you with these things."
"You're right. It is none of your business." Anything about Kein that might have suggested he was relaxed, or even amused, is completely gone now. Still, Kein is well used to not getting on particularly well with many of the females of the tribe. "But since you've brought it up, I've guided myself and my tribe just fine, to this point, and I will continue to do so. Should you like to talk to the Sisters here about /their/ guides, you may be better off referring to them as totems. I think you'd be better understood." Now, having grown tired of the roller coaster of emotions the female has inspired in him in such a short period, he turns away from her, too. "If you'll excuse me, Nyssa, I still have much to do today." A social creature, Kein is not.
She watches him leave, unsurprised when he does. She is not upset, not like anyone else might be, or should be, but she is concerned. Perhaps the best word is confused. The wind follows in Kein's wake, coming up from behind her and swirling around him, pushing him back to the woods and away from her. Nyssa shakes her head, smoothing down her whiskers once the sudden whirlwind has passed. She lifts her head and exhales, green eyes longingly gazing skyward. "I told you, I don't understand."