Post by malak on Dec 20, 2008 0:13:05 GMT -5
Wooded Terrain
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Heading away from the lake means moving into the woods where trees stand in varying stages of growth. The older trees are taller and reach to the sky while the smaller and younger trees struggle upwards towards that same light. Along the ground are bits of broken tree limbs and different types of shrubs and other vegetation staking their claim on whatever sunlight they can find and keep. Leaves rustle and grasses wave in the breezes that occasionally come through this area, though most of the surrounding air is fairly mild compared to some areas. However, when winter or a large storm hits, this wooded area offers protection to all creatures who can make their way to safety. The flow of melted snow from the south continues down the gentle slope towards the north, emptying into the nearby lake.
=================================== Exits ===================================
[Into] a Den [North] to the Lake
[South] to the Highlands [Southwest] to the Grove
[West] to the Stone Formations
================================================================================
[IC] Aylin
[IC] Malak
Their trip up the mountain took considerably longer than it should have. There is no telling where that wolf and the dogs that are following her are by now... And no reason to rush. They will catch up with those mongrels eventually, or else find someone even more deserving of their attention. Malak has been resting, not really sleeping, but not really awake either. He took note of it when his brother left to go hunt before they continue towards the south, but he hasn't move. Not, that is, until he hears a crack sounding through the area. He lifts his head immediately, his ears turning in the direction of the crashing ice, but he cannot see what actually caused the sound.
She had remained close by, but always skirted the edges of the brother's boundaries, keeping an eye on Revan in particular. She had not approached him since their encounter.. and for very good reason. Still, she wanted to keep tabs on the cougar duo and so followed them south toward the mountains. The rumblings and the crashing of ice to the south has set on her edge, and Aylin began to move north in an attempt to move away from the surging river water. But she came upon the lake, swollen and gorged from the mountain snow, and impassable. Tail flicked in irritation before she turned back, paws soaked. As yet, as she moves through the tree cover, she has not noticed her liason's brother, and makes no attempt to disguise herself. The female is panting heavily, stomach deeply gestended, and she eases her hindquarters to the ground in an awkward manuver around her belly. Bleh.
Malak has not seen Aylin since he first turned her away. Alert as he is, though, he spots her almost immediately when she enters the range of his sight, and he recognizes her, and her condition, only seconds after he spots her. Well. He knew his brother had met with her, after that day, and apparently that meeting was quite productive. So she got what she was after, after all. And though they did not meet on good terms, he wishes her no ill. Standing fully, he takes a step in Aylin's direction, his mind temporarily distracted from the sound that woke him, and even from the telltale signs of the nearby flooding on her paws. "Aylin. You should be resting." She is, after all, carrying cubs that he would assume to be relatives of his, and the journey up the mountain was activity enough for him and his brother, cougars in their prime and unburdened by life growing inside of them.
Twin ears twist forward at the sudden voice; she hadn't been paying attention to much else besides catching her breath, and so Malak startles her quite easily. Aylin looks up with deeply swirling indigo eyes that fall on Malak with some shock and some suprise. While he may not wish her ill, his initial snub of her /existence/ has her a little soured toward him, and she finds herself wondering why he would deign to care about /her/ cubs. Huffsnort. Still, her fore and back legs, and the light fur on her underbelly are soaked by her initial venture north. The female takes a while longer to catch her breath, the subtle crumbling noises from the south drawing her attention to the mountain. Grunt. "I am well enough," she manages to offer with a dismissive shake of her paw, flinging a few water flecks away, though she still sucks air heavily through her teeth.
Malak cannot help but grin at her statement. She does not look well enoguh. She looks thoroughly worn out... Perhaps not quite so tired as Malak was, that day he refused her, but it has to be close, with what he next assumes. "Perhaps you ought to put off any more swimming until after you give birth." Yes, he can see she is wet, but he has not yet put all the pieces together to realize that the area north of here, the area where his brother wandered off to hunt, has become flooded with water.
"Well, I'm not sure anyone has much of a choice whether or not they want to swim. It's swim or stay put," Aylin offers a little crisply, though she /does/ eventually settle down on the slightly drier grass, easing to one side to make room for her belly. The female takes a moment to groom the water out of her fur, leaving her sides and stomach to dry on their own since /she/ certainly can't reach them. "Whatever happened," she murmurs, "That lake is impassable unless you're a very, very good swimmer." She turns her eyes up to Malak, brother to Revan, and narrows them. "You might, be it would be stupid to try."
Malak was not expecting that response. The lake was most certainly not impassible on their way here... And it is not /that/ far to rhe north. Revan definitely would have had time to reach it, and if the lake only recently became impassible... Perhaps as a result of whatever had crashed down, out of sight... "Did you see Revan on your way here?" No more joking, not even Malak's version of it. No doubt, his brother can take care of himself, but the thought of being suddenly separated from the one other cougar who /really/ understands what is important... It isn't a pleasant idea.
"Of course not," Aylin replies with a slight smirk curling the edge of her muzzle. "I assumed he was with you. I've not seen him since.." Well. Her tail taps thoughtfully on the ground near her footpaws, and she splays her claws and flexes her pads with a delicious satisfaction that only women could ever know. The female pauses, eyes flitting toward Malak and again to the south, one ear curled the male's way. "Why?" she asks. Afterall, it'd be nice to know where the father of her children is, at least. That way, he can have a much more effective heartattack later.
Malak's tail twitches repeatedly, and he does not respond to Aylin's question. Not immediately. Rather, he tries to decide how to act upon this news. If the lake truly has become fatally dangerous to cross, and if Revan is on the other side of it, then there is nothing Malak can do, except perhaps try to find another way around. If it is possible, yet, to swim across the water, then Revan will join him... And if Revan is not, in fact, trapped on the other side, and Malak going rushing in that direction anyway, he would be setting himself up for several days of relentless ribbing. No... Best to keep his cool, take this in stride, and work through a solution logically. Finally, once deciding that, he speaks. "There is a chance you will not be seeing my brother for some time, then... Since, some time ago, he left to the north, to go hunt." This, at least, does offer him the opportunity to see how Aylin will react to the idea of not seeing the father of her cubs again for an indeterminant period of time.
"Hmm." That's all Malak gets. A short exhale of breath, and a continued smirk. /This/ will be interesting, indeed. The lake, suddenly swollen with too much water and the surrounding land saturated.. that water has no where to go. If Revan is, in truth, stuck on the northern edge of that mass of water.. well, he'll be a father by the time he sees her again. Well, technically he's already fathered her cubs, but he'll be a /real/ dad when they're gnawing on his toes. Heh. She waits with baited breath, wondering what Malak will do. Will he go charging off into the deep blue to find his brother dear, or will he lay low and brood? She doesn't care, either way. Or, maybe she does and she's just not letting on. Aylin's quite for a long while, claws paw idly twirling nearby blades of grass. "You are on edge," she whispers after an agonizingly awkward time has passed. She can feel the male's discomfort radiating from him like a storm. It's quite pleasant, actually, to know he's so agitated.
He'll do neither, but laying low and brooding might be how it seems. Already, Malak is adjusting his Plan to this new trial. Slowly, he sits. If Revan has not returned in an hour or so, Malak will travel northward to examine the lake, and to see if there is any other way around it. "You are certainly an expert in being on edge, Aylin." There is nothing terribly harsh in his tone, but she's right. He /is/ on edge, and in that state, he does not have the patience for handling a pregnant, moody female. Especially not one so vindictive as Aylin.
She's not vindictive. There's a fine line between that and hell bent. She's crossed it. Either way, her eyes slide lazily toward Malak as he settles, though his posture is not one of being at ease. Aylin takes a slow, deep breath, calming her roiling stomach before inclining her head the male's way. "I'm only saying," she issues in a defensive tone, "That you are uneasy about something you cannot control. There is no point. Your brother is old enough to take care of himself, as are you. Your great plan will not suffer for lack of presence." But it would be funny if it did. She curls and uncurls her tail, shifting a little for more comfort. "Whatever happened it's likely to be sometime before the water finds somewhere to go." The ground around the lake, after all, was significantly less and what was still solid land was remarkably squishy.
"Just because I can't control it doesn't mean I can't find a way to make it work to my advantage." Or at least, it doesn't mean that Malak can't find a way to ensure that it doesn't work to his /disadvantage/. And though it is, momentarily, tempting to tack something onto the end of that statement that he knows, full well, could upset her, he holds himself back. For a couple reasons, he should not be trying to irritate her any further. She is carrying his brother's cubs. But more importantly, he may be stuck with her for a time, without his brother here to act as a buffer.
The female only gives him a long, steady look before her eyes fall away in a rather bored roll. She eases her shoulder down to the ground and stretches languidly on the grass, back arching and one forepaw reaching up over her head, claws wriggling in delight. Mmm. She has nowhere to be and nothing to do but wait. She's not overly hungry, and even so, smaller prey might be flushed from their hidey holes thanks to the water so she's not too worried about hunting, either. Aylin is quite content to relax. It's /Malak/ being irritable this time. Mwah.
Truly, in her current state, if she were hungry, Malak would probably hunt for her. She might not be willing to accept food from him, but they'll handle that when they come to it. For now, Malak expresses that willingness to help her through this period in another way. Standing once more, he says, "I will be back. I am going to find a good place to shelter you and the cubs." How long will it be before she has them. A week? Two? He isn't certain, but it will be soon. Before the flood ends. besides showing his good will, this offers him the perfect opportunity to distance himself from her, to be able to solidify his plan without her around.
Aylin is stopped from enjoying her delicious stretch by Malak's words, and her eyes glaze over in that half-interested, inward brooding female look that all men around the world should run in terror from. She sighs audibly and rolls to her paws, pushing herself up until she's drawn herself to full height. She watches Malak's retreating back and snips her teeth, imagining a good chunk of his rearend between them, and murmurs to herself, "A wonder you care for my cubs." Pfft. Whatever. She's still not forgiven him and it's likely that she won't for some time, if at all. She's not concerned, anyway. This upsurge in water suddenly may have blocked the brothers, but it also may have blocked potential predators to her children.. then again, she wonders, it could have shut them together with her. She doesn't trust Malak, either. Who knows what he'll do to her prescious children? The female grunts and decides not to pursue him, still exausted from her previous swiming lessons. After much grunting and fidgiting, Aylin resumes her lax position and dozes.
The cougaress's pregnancy has another unfortunate side effect. Namely, Malak can't take his frustration out on her if she becomes too lippy. Yes, best that he takes his leave, for now. He does so without responding to the murmering that he just barely heard. If he was able to make out any of the words, he gives no indication of it as he slips away from the immediate area.
================================================================================
Heading away from the lake means moving into the woods where trees stand in varying stages of growth. The older trees are taller and reach to the sky while the smaller and younger trees struggle upwards towards that same light. Along the ground are bits of broken tree limbs and different types of shrubs and other vegetation staking their claim on whatever sunlight they can find and keep. Leaves rustle and grasses wave in the breezes that occasionally come through this area, though most of the surrounding air is fairly mild compared to some areas. However, when winter or a large storm hits, this wooded area offers protection to all creatures who can make their way to safety. The flow of melted snow from the south continues down the gentle slope towards the north, emptying into the nearby lake.
=================================== Exits ===================================
[Into] a Den [North] to the Lake
[South] to the Highlands [Southwest] to the Grove
[West] to the Stone Formations
================================================================================
[IC] Aylin
[IC] Malak
Their trip up the mountain took considerably longer than it should have. There is no telling where that wolf and the dogs that are following her are by now... And no reason to rush. They will catch up with those mongrels eventually, or else find someone even more deserving of their attention. Malak has been resting, not really sleeping, but not really awake either. He took note of it when his brother left to go hunt before they continue towards the south, but he hasn't move. Not, that is, until he hears a crack sounding through the area. He lifts his head immediately, his ears turning in the direction of the crashing ice, but he cannot see what actually caused the sound.
She had remained close by, but always skirted the edges of the brother's boundaries, keeping an eye on Revan in particular. She had not approached him since their encounter.. and for very good reason. Still, she wanted to keep tabs on the cougar duo and so followed them south toward the mountains. The rumblings and the crashing of ice to the south has set on her edge, and Aylin began to move north in an attempt to move away from the surging river water. But she came upon the lake, swollen and gorged from the mountain snow, and impassable. Tail flicked in irritation before she turned back, paws soaked. As yet, as she moves through the tree cover, she has not noticed her liason's brother, and makes no attempt to disguise herself. The female is panting heavily, stomach deeply gestended, and she eases her hindquarters to the ground in an awkward manuver around her belly. Bleh.
Malak has not seen Aylin since he first turned her away. Alert as he is, though, he spots her almost immediately when she enters the range of his sight, and he recognizes her, and her condition, only seconds after he spots her. Well. He knew his brother had met with her, after that day, and apparently that meeting was quite productive. So she got what she was after, after all. And though they did not meet on good terms, he wishes her no ill. Standing fully, he takes a step in Aylin's direction, his mind temporarily distracted from the sound that woke him, and even from the telltale signs of the nearby flooding on her paws. "Aylin. You should be resting." She is, after all, carrying cubs that he would assume to be relatives of his, and the journey up the mountain was activity enough for him and his brother, cougars in their prime and unburdened by life growing inside of them.
Twin ears twist forward at the sudden voice; she hadn't been paying attention to much else besides catching her breath, and so Malak startles her quite easily. Aylin looks up with deeply swirling indigo eyes that fall on Malak with some shock and some suprise. While he may not wish her ill, his initial snub of her /existence/ has her a little soured toward him, and she finds herself wondering why he would deign to care about /her/ cubs. Huffsnort. Still, her fore and back legs, and the light fur on her underbelly are soaked by her initial venture north. The female takes a while longer to catch her breath, the subtle crumbling noises from the south drawing her attention to the mountain. Grunt. "I am well enough," she manages to offer with a dismissive shake of her paw, flinging a few water flecks away, though she still sucks air heavily through her teeth.
Malak cannot help but grin at her statement. She does not look well enoguh. She looks thoroughly worn out... Perhaps not quite so tired as Malak was, that day he refused her, but it has to be close, with what he next assumes. "Perhaps you ought to put off any more swimming until after you give birth." Yes, he can see she is wet, but he has not yet put all the pieces together to realize that the area north of here, the area where his brother wandered off to hunt, has become flooded with water.
"Well, I'm not sure anyone has much of a choice whether or not they want to swim. It's swim or stay put," Aylin offers a little crisply, though she /does/ eventually settle down on the slightly drier grass, easing to one side to make room for her belly. The female takes a moment to groom the water out of her fur, leaving her sides and stomach to dry on their own since /she/ certainly can't reach them. "Whatever happened," she murmurs, "That lake is impassable unless you're a very, very good swimmer." She turns her eyes up to Malak, brother to Revan, and narrows them. "You might, be it would be stupid to try."
Malak was not expecting that response. The lake was most certainly not impassible on their way here... And it is not /that/ far to rhe north. Revan definitely would have had time to reach it, and if the lake only recently became impassible... Perhaps as a result of whatever had crashed down, out of sight... "Did you see Revan on your way here?" No more joking, not even Malak's version of it. No doubt, his brother can take care of himself, but the thought of being suddenly separated from the one other cougar who /really/ understands what is important... It isn't a pleasant idea.
"Of course not," Aylin replies with a slight smirk curling the edge of her muzzle. "I assumed he was with you. I've not seen him since.." Well. Her tail taps thoughtfully on the ground near her footpaws, and she splays her claws and flexes her pads with a delicious satisfaction that only women could ever know. The female pauses, eyes flitting toward Malak and again to the south, one ear curled the male's way. "Why?" she asks. Afterall, it'd be nice to know where the father of her children is, at least. That way, he can have a much more effective heartattack later.
Malak's tail twitches repeatedly, and he does not respond to Aylin's question. Not immediately. Rather, he tries to decide how to act upon this news. If the lake truly has become fatally dangerous to cross, and if Revan is on the other side of it, then there is nothing Malak can do, except perhaps try to find another way around. If it is possible, yet, to swim across the water, then Revan will join him... And if Revan is not, in fact, trapped on the other side, and Malak going rushing in that direction anyway, he would be setting himself up for several days of relentless ribbing. No... Best to keep his cool, take this in stride, and work through a solution logically. Finally, once deciding that, he speaks. "There is a chance you will not be seeing my brother for some time, then... Since, some time ago, he left to the north, to go hunt." This, at least, does offer him the opportunity to see how Aylin will react to the idea of not seeing the father of her cubs again for an indeterminant period of time.
"Hmm." That's all Malak gets. A short exhale of breath, and a continued smirk. /This/ will be interesting, indeed. The lake, suddenly swollen with too much water and the surrounding land saturated.. that water has no where to go. If Revan is, in truth, stuck on the northern edge of that mass of water.. well, he'll be a father by the time he sees her again. Well, technically he's already fathered her cubs, but he'll be a /real/ dad when they're gnawing on his toes. Heh. She waits with baited breath, wondering what Malak will do. Will he go charging off into the deep blue to find his brother dear, or will he lay low and brood? She doesn't care, either way. Or, maybe she does and she's just not letting on. Aylin's quite for a long while, claws paw idly twirling nearby blades of grass. "You are on edge," she whispers after an agonizingly awkward time has passed. She can feel the male's discomfort radiating from him like a storm. It's quite pleasant, actually, to know he's so agitated.
He'll do neither, but laying low and brooding might be how it seems. Already, Malak is adjusting his Plan to this new trial. Slowly, he sits. If Revan has not returned in an hour or so, Malak will travel northward to examine the lake, and to see if there is any other way around it. "You are certainly an expert in being on edge, Aylin." There is nothing terribly harsh in his tone, but she's right. He /is/ on edge, and in that state, he does not have the patience for handling a pregnant, moody female. Especially not one so vindictive as Aylin.
She's not vindictive. There's a fine line between that and hell bent. She's crossed it. Either way, her eyes slide lazily toward Malak as he settles, though his posture is not one of being at ease. Aylin takes a slow, deep breath, calming her roiling stomach before inclining her head the male's way. "I'm only saying," she issues in a defensive tone, "That you are uneasy about something you cannot control. There is no point. Your brother is old enough to take care of himself, as are you. Your great plan will not suffer for lack of presence." But it would be funny if it did. She curls and uncurls her tail, shifting a little for more comfort. "Whatever happened it's likely to be sometime before the water finds somewhere to go." The ground around the lake, after all, was significantly less and what was still solid land was remarkably squishy.
"Just because I can't control it doesn't mean I can't find a way to make it work to my advantage." Or at least, it doesn't mean that Malak can't find a way to ensure that it doesn't work to his /disadvantage/. And though it is, momentarily, tempting to tack something onto the end of that statement that he knows, full well, could upset her, he holds himself back. For a couple reasons, he should not be trying to irritate her any further. She is carrying his brother's cubs. But more importantly, he may be stuck with her for a time, without his brother here to act as a buffer.
The female only gives him a long, steady look before her eyes fall away in a rather bored roll. She eases her shoulder down to the ground and stretches languidly on the grass, back arching and one forepaw reaching up over her head, claws wriggling in delight. Mmm. She has nowhere to be and nothing to do but wait. She's not overly hungry, and even so, smaller prey might be flushed from their hidey holes thanks to the water so she's not too worried about hunting, either. Aylin is quite content to relax. It's /Malak/ being irritable this time. Mwah.
Truly, in her current state, if she were hungry, Malak would probably hunt for her. She might not be willing to accept food from him, but they'll handle that when they come to it. For now, Malak expresses that willingness to help her through this period in another way. Standing once more, he says, "I will be back. I am going to find a good place to shelter you and the cubs." How long will it be before she has them. A week? Two? He isn't certain, but it will be soon. Before the flood ends. besides showing his good will, this offers him the perfect opportunity to distance himself from her, to be able to solidify his plan without her around.
Aylin is stopped from enjoying her delicious stretch by Malak's words, and her eyes glaze over in that half-interested, inward brooding female look that all men around the world should run in terror from. She sighs audibly and rolls to her paws, pushing herself up until she's drawn herself to full height. She watches Malak's retreating back and snips her teeth, imagining a good chunk of his rearend between them, and murmurs to herself, "A wonder you care for my cubs." Pfft. Whatever. She's still not forgiven him and it's likely that she won't for some time, if at all. She's not concerned, anyway. This upsurge in water suddenly may have blocked the brothers, but it also may have blocked potential predators to her children.. then again, she wonders, it could have shut them together with her. She doesn't trust Malak, either. Who knows what he'll do to her prescious children? The female grunts and decides not to pursue him, still exausted from her previous swiming lessons. After much grunting and fidgiting, Aylin resumes her lax position and dozes.
The cougaress's pregnancy has another unfortunate side effect. Namely, Malak can't take his frustration out on her if she becomes too lippy. Yes, best that he takes his leave, for now. He does so without responding to the murmering that he just barely heard. If he was able to make out any of the words, he gives no indication of it as he slips away from the immediate area.