Post by Therdde on Apr 7, 2008 23:04:55 GMT -5
Note: Serious cool points go to everyone who gets the movie references.
Characters:
Kein - Male Cougar Cub
Mateka - Male Mouse (spoofed by Maulisho)
- Stone Formations -
Inventing ways to keep from growing bored has become more and more difficult recently. For a few weeks after he wandered off the last time, it was easy, but like Pelutho, Kein has grown tired of simply exploring their new home during the times when they aren't all involved in some game, and he still has no intention of wandering further than shouting distance. Luckily for the adventurous young male, he managed to catch the scent of some small creature really close to the stones, and he has been tracking it since. He is warming to the idea of hunting for his food. Though the cubs have not gone hunting with Mom or Kasim yet, they have been eating bits of meat for a while now, and he desires to help out nearly as much as he longs for something new and fun to keep him entertained.
Mateka the Mouse is confidently roving around, sure that he's alone and safe in his own little world. He saw the cougars move off into the distance a while back and knows they generally hang out around the rocks now. The small creature is still on alert, as is typical of all prey animals his size with any form or semblance of common sense. Whiskers twitching, he pokes around in the dirt, looking for anything remotely interesting. Nah.. nothing here. Time to move on!
The scent grows stronger, though whatever he is tracking would still appear to be a way's off, and Kein is just considering that he might have to abandon this particular scent and go back closer to the rocks when he first spots movement up ahead of him. He has never really gotten a good look at any mammal smaller than he is, and it hadn't occurred to him that they might not leave as strong a trail as larger, more easily trackable creatures. He stops walking abruptly and crouches as low as he can, peering ahead of him to try to focus on whatever may be there. There is no nervousness about Kein, but there's no sense in creeping about while tracking creatures if you're only going to blithely announce your presence the moment you've spotted them, right?
Mateka scurries forward, checking out another section of the ground. Hmm. An interesting pebble that's almost worth keeping for its aesthetic value, but the mouse decides that its too heavy for the benefit of having it in his home. And so it's onward and forward and off to discover new and exciting things! Well... maybe. The small mouse is quite unaware that he's the new and exciting thing for a much larger creature.
The animal's scurrying draws Kein's eyes towards it, and for a brief moment, he can do nothing but watch it. If not for the fact that he already had hunting on his mind, he'd probably want to talk to it. He has never seen anything like it before, and no wonder--it's so small! Immediately, he wants to know everything about it, but especially what it's called. It's too... different... to be a bug. He has seen some large bugs, though not quite so large as this animal. None of them have had fur, though. Still, Kein has never had a conversation with a bug, and he figures the best way to learn what it is would be to bring it to Mom. This idea strikes him as the best thing he could do, so as the animal gets a little further away, he springs forward to chase after it.
Oh nooooooooo! It's a MONSTER! It's /chasing/ him! Mateka immediately switches over into emergency evasive maneuvers, dodging from side to side as he scampers off at the blinding speed of a really tiny creature running for his life. Two feet per second? Hey, it's the fastest he can go! This is really /not/ good -- why hadn't he seen the monster coming? Or smelled? Or heard? Stupid stupid stupid! A faint squeak of terror escapes Mateka as he tries to increase the rate of his little mousefeet.
Kein is built to run many times faster than two feet per second, even at his young age. It surprises him, actually, how quickly he's able to overcome this animal. No wonder that wolf was on him mere seconds after he tumbled, even though he had a considerable headstart. The dodging throws the young cougar off, though, and the first couple times he leaps to try to catch the small creature under a paw, he is no where even close. A couple times after that get him closer, but it will be blind luck and perseverance that allow him to catch the thing, not skill, because he can't change direction suddenly, the way the small animal can.
This isn't going to work--Mateka isn't foolish enough to think he can dodge the monster's pounces forever. The only way he might be able to get out of this nightmare is to employ a very unexpected and unorthodox strategy: using his superior wit and intellect! As he dodges (barely) another pounce, he suddenly stops, stands up on his hind legs, and in a shrill and angry voice, yells "Hey you, STOP RIGHT THERE!"
Kein is about to let out a low growl when he realizes moments after he lands that he has missed AGAIN. The shrill voice stops him, if only because he's confused. No tortured insect has ever summoned the courage to confront its tormentor, not that Kein has witnessed. What /is/ this bizarre animal?! He is already halfway through spinning around to continue the chase when the small animal speaks, and the process of stopping that turn is none to graceful, though he manages to avoid tumbling over on his side. No words come from the cougar as he stares at the creature, equal parts amazed and perplexed.
[OOC] Mateka: I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains.
[OOC] Kein: Is that so? In that case I'm afraid we're at an impasse.
[OOC] Mateka: Really? In that case I challenge you to a battle of wits.
[OOC] Kein: To the death?
[OOC] Mateka nods.
[OOC] Kein: Very well, I accept.
[OOC] Kein: Kasim hasn't seen that movie. He has a character named Iniko on CotK, part of the HotD plot, whose father is not a good lion. Iniko is in hiding. When I realized Iniko was Kasim's character, I wrote: Iniko: I am Iniko the lion. You are my father. Prepare to die.
"Listen to me, monster. How /dare/ you chase after /me/, a /mouse/? Hasn't your mother warned you about doing such a foolish thing?" The mouse's voice is shocked, outraged, and sounds completely genuine. He points an accusatory paw at the cub and shakes it furiously. "I cannot believe you would disobey your mother like that! Do you know what you almost /did/? Unbelievable! Kids these days!"
A... mouse? Kein blinks, the amazement gone. Now he is merely perplexed. He is quite certain that his mother has never talked about any animals called mouses, and though he has, once or twice, gotten lectured for doing things that she did not, explicitly, tell him not to do, it has always been something that he knew she wouldn't appreciate. Or that he /should have known/ she wouldn't appreciate. After all, Pelutho always seems to know those things. "I... What did I almost do?" Can he really risk getting in trouble again?
The mouse actually jumps up and down in absolute indignation. "You don't know what you almost did?!" Next comes a single step forward, fist shaking in the cub's direction. "You tried to catch a /mouse/! What were you thinking?!" Now the tiny paws go on the tiny hips as the mouse stands facing Kein, the epitome of righteous indignation. "/Think/ about what you tried to do! Can you not see the terrible thing you tried to do?!"
Kein does not back away when this mouse takes a step towards him. He continues staring at it as it yells at him. He does not react as he might when the chief raises his voice or his mom sounds upset with him. There is no crouching or flattening his ears against his head, trying to make himself smaller. Even so, he is very clearly being lectured. Some of the words are the same, even if the mouse can't quite achieve the fearsome voice a full-grown cougar can. At the final question, he gives his standard response to a question he can't answer when he has apparently done something bad. "I'm... Sorry?" It is not unusual for him to not sound horribly contrite, but the confusion still audible in his tone /is/ unusual.
Huffing dramatically, the mouse just stares back, shaking his head as if in pure amazement, before finally throwing up his arms. "I guess that's the best answer I'm going to get from you, isn't it? Just 'sorry'? You should be begging me not to go tell your mother? Just imagine the terrible punishment she'd have to give you!" This is actually working out quite well--maybe even a bit better than Mateka had originally thought. He had no doubt in his superior intellect, of course. There was no question in /his/ mind that he'd put the cub in his place.
The mouse seems so serious, and the idea of being punished again /is/ enough to scare Kein. He's supposed to be behaving! He has tried so hard to behave, to not wander off, even to be very nice when his siblings decide they've had enough of playing. The idea that he could have just screwed it all up terrifies him right out of his confusion. Finally pulling his ears back, he says, with a slightly raised voice, "No! I-I didn't hurt you, did I? You're okay, right? And-and it won't happen again, I swear!"
Mateka seems to consider for a moment, then finally nods resolutely. "Luckily for you, I am not hurt. Rather irritated and surprised by your foolishness, but not hurt." Now for the clincher. "Look here. I'll make a deal with you. We both know that you just made a big mistake, and most likely your mother could punish you big for this. However, I know you're still young, and I can see you've learned your lesson. Now if you go back to your mother and apologize as sincerely as you can, I won't come and demand that your mother discipline you." He nods again. "Does that sound fair enough to you?"
Kein is eager to nod. Anything that gets him out of the possibility of getting into trouble again. In a voice tempered with a strange combination of fear and relief, he does his best to give his most sincere apology. "I'm really, really sorry. I won't chase a mouse again, ever. I promise." Whether or not his apology is sincere, his promise certainly is. It's obvious that the last thing this young cougar would do is risk punishment, especially for what must have been a terribly stupid mistake on his part.
"Very well then. I hope for your sake that you keep your promise!" The mouse hmphs, makes brushing motions as if to wipe dust from his sides, then turns and starts to saunter off, muttering loudly to himself about young upstarts with no respect for mice these days.
Characters:
Kein - Male Cougar Cub
Mateka - Male Mouse (spoofed by Maulisho)
- Stone Formations -
Inventing ways to keep from growing bored has become more and more difficult recently. For a few weeks after he wandered off the last time, it was easy, but like Pelutho, Kein has grown tired of simply exploring their new home during the times when they aren't all involved in some game, and he still has no intention of wandering further than shouting distance. Luckily for the adventurous young male, he managed to catch the scent of some small creature really close to the stones, and he has been tracking it since. He is warming to the idea of hunting for his food. Though the cubs have not gone hunting with Mom or Kasim yet, they have been eating bits of meat for a while now, and he desires to help out nearly as much as he longs for something new and fun to keep him entertained.
Mateka the Mouse is confidently roving around, sure that he's alone and safe in his own little world. He saw the cougars move off into the distance a while back and knows they generally hang out around the rocks now. The small creature is still on alert, as is typical of all prey animals his size with any form or semblance of common sense. Whiskers twitching, he pokes around in the dirt, looking for anything remotely interesting. Nah.. nothing here. Time to move on!
The scent grows stronger, though whatever he is tracking would still appear to be a way's off, and Kein is just considering that he might have to abandon this particular scent and go back closer to the rocks when he first spots movement up ahead of him. He has never really gotten a good look at any mammal smaller than he is, and it hadn't occurred to him that they might not leave as strong a trail as larger, more easily trackable creatures. He stops walking abruptly and crouches as low as he can, peering ahead of him to try to focus on whatever may be there. There is no nervousness about Kein, but there's no sense in creeping about while tracking creatures if you're only going to blithely announce your presence the moment you've spotted them, right?
Mateka scurries forward, checking out another section of the ground. Hmm. An interesting pebble that's almost worth keeping for its aesthetic value, but the mouse decides that its too heavy for the benefit of having it in his home. And so it's onward and forward and off to discover new and exciting things! Well... maybe. The small mouse is quite unaware that he's the new and exciting thing for a much larger creature.
The animal's scurrying draws Kein's eyes towards it, and for a brief moment, he can do nothing but watch it. If not for the fact that he already had hunting on his mind, he'd probably want to talk to it. He has never seen anything like it before, and no wonder--it's so small! Immediately, he wants to know everything about it, but especially what it's called. It's too... different... to be a bug. He has seen some large bugs, though not quite so large as this animal. None of them have had fur, though. Still, Kein has never had a conversation with a bug, and he figures the best way to learn what it is would be to bring it to Mom. This idea strikes him as the best thing he could do, so as the animal gets a little further away, he springs forward to chase after it.
Oh nooooooooo! It's a MONSTER! It's /chasing/ him! Mateka immediately switches over into emergency evasive maneuvers, dodging from side to side as he scampers off at the blinding speed of a really tiny creature running for his life. Two feet per second? Hey, it's the fastest he can go! This is really /not/ good -- why hadn't he seen the monster coming? Or smelled? Or heard? Stupid stupid stupid! A faint squeak of terror escapes Mateka as he tries to increase the rate of his little mousefeet.
Kein is built to run many times faster than two feet per second, even at his young age. It surprises him, actually, how quickly he's able to overcome this animal. No wonder that wolf was on him mere seconds after he tumbled, even though he had a considerable headstart. The dodging throws the young cougar off, though, and the first couple times he leaps to try to catch the small creature under a paw, he is no where even close. A couple times after that get him closer, but it will be blind luck and perseverance that allow him to catch the thing, not skill, because he can't change direction suddenly, the way the small animal can.
This isn't going to work--Mateka isn't foolish enough to think he can dodge the monster's pounces forever. The only way he might be able to get out of this nightmare is to employ a very unexpected and unorthodox strategy: using his superior wit and intellect! As he dodges (barely) another pounce, he suddenly stops, stands up on his hind legs, and in a shrill and angry voice, yells "Hey you, STOP RIGHT THERE!"
Kein is about to let out a low growl when he realizes moments after he lands that he has missed AGAIN. The shrill voice stops him, if only because he's confused. No tortured insect has ever summoned the courage to confront its tormentor, not that Kein has witnessed. What /is/ this bizarre animal?! He is already halfway through spinning around to continue the chase when the small animal speaks, and the process of stopping that turn is none to graceful, though he manages to avoid tumbling over on his side. No words come from the cougar as he stares at the creature, equal parts amazed and perplexed.
[OOC] Mateka: I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains.
[OOC] Kein: Is that so? In that case I'm afraid we're at an impasse.
[OOC] Mateka: Really? In that case I challenge you to a battle of wits.
[OOC] Kein: To the death?
[OOC] Mateka nods.
[OOC] Kein: Very well, I accept.
[OOC] Kein: Kasim hasn't seen that movie. He has a character named Iniko on CotK, part of the HotD plot, whose father is not a good lion. Iniko is in hiding. When I realized Iniko was Kasim's character, I wrote: Iniko: I am Iniko the lion. You are my father. Prepare to die.
"Listen to me, monster. How /dare/ you chase after /me/, a /mouse/? Hasn't your mother warned you about doing such a foolish thing?" The mouse's voice is shocked, outraged, and sounds completely genuine. He points an accusatory paw at the cub and shakes it furiously. "I cannot believe you would disobey your mother like that! Do you know what you almost /did/? Unbelievable! Kids these days!"
A... mouse? Kein blinks, the amazement gone. Now he is merely perplexed. He is quite certain that his mother has never talked about any animals called mouses, and though he has, once or twice, gotten lectured for doing things that she did not, explicitly, tell him not to do, it has always been something that he knew she wouldn't appreciate. Or that he /should have known/ she wouldn't appreciate. After all, Pelutho always seems to know those things. "I... What did I almost do?" Can he really risk getting in trouble again?
The mouse actually jumps up and down in absolute indignation. "You don't know what you almost did?!" Next comes a single step forward, fist shaking in the cub's direction. "You tried to catch a /mouse/! What were you thinking?!" Now the tiny paws go on the tiny hips as the mouse stands facing Kein, the epitome of righteous indignation. "/Think/ about what you tried to do! Can you not see the terrible thing you tried to do?!"
Kein does not back away when this mouse takes a step towards him. He continues staring at it as it yells at him. He does not react as he might when the chief raises his voice or his mom sounds upset with him. There is no crouching or flattening his ears against his head, trying to make himself smaller. Even so, he is very clearly being lectured. Some of the words are the same, even if the mouse can't quite achieve the fearsome voice a full-grown cougar can. At the final question, he gives his standard response to a question he can't answer when he has apparently done something bad. "I'm... Sorry?" It is not unusual for him to not sound horribly contrite, but the confusion still audible in his tone /is/ unusual.
Huffing dramatically, the mouse just stares back, shaking his head as if in pure amazement, before finally throwing up his arms. "I guess that's the best answer I'm going to get from you, isn't it? Just 'sorry'? You should be begging me not to go tell your mother? Just imagine the terrible punishment she'd have to give you!" This is actually working out quite well--maybe even a bit better than Mateka had originally thought. He had no doubt in his superior intellect, of course. There was no question in /his/ mind that he'd put the cub in his place.
The mouse seems so serious, and the idea of being punished again /is/ enough to scare Kein. He's supposed to be behaving! He has tried so hard to behave, to not wander off, even to be very nice when his siblings decide they've had enough of playing. The idea that he could have just screwed it all up terrifies him right out of his confusion. Finally pulling his ears back, he says, with a slightly raised voice, "No! I-I didn't hurt you, did I? You're okay, right? And-and it won't happen again, I swear!"
Mateka seems to consider for a moment, then finally nods resolutely. "Luckily for you, I am not hurt. Rather irritated and surprised by your foolishness, but not hurt." Now for the clincher. "Look here. I'll make a deal with you. We both know that you just made a big mistake, and most likely your mother could punish you big for this. However, I know you're still young, and I can see you've learned your lesson. Now if you go back to your mother and apologize as sincerely as you can, I won't come and demand that your mother discipline you." He nods again. "Does that sound fair enough to you?"
Kein is eager to nod. Anything that gets him out of the possibility of getting into trouble again. In a voice tempered with a strange combination of fear and relief, he does his best to give his most sincere apology. "I'm really, really sorry. I won't chase a mouse again, ever. I promise." Whether or not his apology is sincere, his promise certainly is. It's obvious that the last thing this young cougar would do is risk punishment, especially for what must have been a terribly stupid mistake on his part.
"Very well then. I hope for your sake that you keep your promise!" The mouse hmphs, makes brushing motions as if to wipe dust from his sides, then turns and starts to saunter off, muttering loudly to himself about young upstarts with no respect for mice these days.