|  Author | Topic: <A Minor Annoyance> (Read 266 times) |
Stan
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|  | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #15 on Apr 22, 2009, 7:15pm » | ![[Quote]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif) |
((Okay, so I lied about the Clint Eastwood thing  ))
Gunther felt his teeth hew through fur and flesh and bone and felt triumph swell in his chest – before his jaws continued on their forceful journey, and tooth met tooth with a painful clack. His own blood joined that of the cheetah as his fang slip-slid into the flesh of his gum. It hurt him no more than what he was used to at every meal; all the same, he flung his body forward fueled with an extra ounce of anger. The forward momentum only served to impair his dexterity; as the cheetah made her rushing counterattack, Gunther struck out with tooth and tail, but both blows went far wide.
Gunther grunted, maw agape, and curled futilely away from the cat as the blow landed on his haunch; it left behind a deep ache in the muscle and scales ripped free by the cheetah’s blunt nails. When the lizard lunged forward in pursuit, he found it painful to step forward, and the resultant shortening of his stride slowed him even further. He might have desisted for fear of hunting dangerous prey in his weakened state – an ambush predator, he already acted far from his usual habits – if not for the hint of weakness he saw in the cheetah’s already labored breath. Sure of his own power, he limped forward; and despite his wound, his mouth still gaped with impressive threat and aggression.
Meanwhile, Azubuike cringed as the haze of instinctual self-preservation cleared from his vision and left him with noting but the cheetah’s glare and knowledge that his escape might mean her death. His claws dug furrows in the branch as he watched her sally against the monstrous lizard, and he gulped a relieved breath of air to see her triumphant and it wounded; but the lizard was not yet debilitated, and rushed once more to attack. The werebird did not calculate his next action: made no consideration of how it would benefit him. It was a dumb, human thing to do.
As the monstrous lizard lumbered towards the cheetah, it came directly beneath Azubuike’s branch; the werebird had only to free his claws from the wood – and fall. Rather like a rock, seeing as he didn’t fly graceful at the best of times; when he struck the lizard, it was with clawed toes and fingers spread to grip at scaly hide, and a grunt as his breath whooshed from his lungs. The lizard found its legs knocked out from under it, but rallied frighteningly quickly; with a heave, it got back to its clawed feet, swung its head to snap its jaws at him.
A feather torn from his scalp convinced Azubuike to duck his head; but he thought himself in a good position, fought to sink his claws into the lizard’s flesh. Then the lizard reared back, too lithe, too strong, and far too flexible; it flung Azubuike to the dirt, a little blood and scales on his claws and a drooling monster glaring down at him. With a squeak he scrambled backwards, on an arcing path as he tried to get back to the protection of the tree; he figured it would do him well to be away from the lizard’s head, too. To his surprise, the lizard did not turn with him; it simply watched him out of its round expressionless eye, and curved its tail away, as if wary of having it bit.
Azubuike thought himself home free, until that tail whipped around and cracked against his ribs. The werebird howled with pain and curled around the injury, claws up and feathers flared in a ruff around his neck, hopeless defense against the monstrous lizard. His side throbbed – a panicked thought, Broken bones? There would be more than bones broken if he didn’t move, though; he could hear the lazy step of the lizard as it approached to finish him off. With a muffled groan Azubuike forced himself to scramble back a few more steps, eyes wide and locked on the approaching threat.
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Breeze
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #16 on Apr 23, 2009, 4:38pm » | |
She wondered if perhaps she should flee. Her blows had slowed the creature, yes -- she was surprised and pleased to see it limping, and to see that its scales were not indestructible. But she was tiring, and the beast seemed to know that, limping forward in a parody of its previous proud stride. It wouldn't stop until it had eaten her, no doubt. Like a lion, except this thing probably ate them for breakfast.
Then the bird-man did something completely stupid; at first Thandiwe thought he had just fallen out of the branch, until she saw the claws spread to grip the beast. The cheetah hissed softly, ears back, as the lizard wrestled the man off of him. What was he thinking? Had he not already seen enough of this creature to know better than to keep so close?
Then he stared like an idiot as it whipped its tail -- its tail, out of all things! -- and cracked the wereanimal square on the chest. Whiskers and ears flat, tail lashing, the cheetah thought fast. She could flee, of course, but had she not glared at this wereanimal for doing the same? Besides, this stupid thing would probably just hunt her down and eat her anyway. She was too tired for all of this running.
Regardless, the lizard wasn't exactly paying attention to her. There wasn't enough distance for a full spring and tackle, and it was too low to the ground to exactly topple over. That the cheetah's instincts knew.
Even so, she charged. She didn't bother with a full spring -- she'd just run straight over them both and gone. Still, when she slammed into the lizard ((Sorry for Godmode, but I couldn't find a decent way to write 'When she hoped she slammed into it' >.> )), snapping randomly towards its neck and jerking her head for a tear, she hoped it was with enough force to shock it away from twisting and ripping her head off.
((If you want to maim her, you can, but don't give her any sort of crippling/fatal injuries  ))
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Stan
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #17 on Apr 23, 2009, 9:55pm » | |
((I'll use the powers of vague writing to let you decide how maimed she is, heh.))
Gunther could not look away from the bird-man, now that the pathetic creature quivered and stunk of fear. It looked and sounded and promised to taste like prey; while the lizard liked the idea of revenge, he needed sustenance, and although his mind wanted the cheetah’s flesh his body would accept any meat. A bitter thought underscored his hunger-fueled intensity: if his haunch did not pain him so, he would have managed to take good hold of the bird-man in his jaws, and would not have had to resort to the use of his tail, that defensive and imperfect weapon – he would, even now, be feasting on the creature. As the dusty smell of feathers filled his nostrils, he opened his maw, and looked into the wide pale eyes of the bird-man—
And jackknifed as something big and hot-fleshed and stinking of feline slammed into him. Gunther clawed divots from the earth and lurched forward a step as the bird-man took the opportunity to scramble further backwards, whimpering pathetically all the while; watched with fury as it clawed upright with the help of the acacia’s trunk and escaped up into the branches of the tree. It left behind the intense smell of blood from the places where the acacia’s thorns tore into its hands. Gunther rolled his eyes and snapped his jaws as he attempted to take another futile step forward.
Then the cheetah’s fangs sank into the back of his neck. The blood ran in runnels from his wounds, splattered the earth as he writhed, and the pain when the cat ripped her teeth free from his flesh drew a groan from his chest. He could not recall a fight in which the prey equaled him – could compare this experience only to those times when he wrestled with his own kind and felt the serrated teeth of another dragon slicing through his scales. With strength born of desperation he twisted himself to the side, hoped to thus shuck the cat from his back, struck out with the curved claws of his feet and the whip of his tail and a last stray bite.
When he freed himself from his attacker, he limped and staggered his way from the shade of the acacia, plowed through the long grasses in no direction in particular: with every limping step, he felt the blood run down his neck, the throb of the bruises on his back and sides. Gunther cursed the cheetah with every rasp of his breath, and might have turned back for one last go at revenge – if he didn’t know himself to be in such a bad way. Nonetheless, when he felt himself far enough away to be safe from further attack and could check, he hoped to find blood on his claws from the last blow he aimed the cat’s way.
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Breeze
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #18 on Apr 24, 2009, 6:26am » | |
She wasn't sure how she managed to keep her balance; saving grace of her species, she supposed. When the beast writhed, she rolled, not bothering to keep any sort of grip since that wasn't the point. She heard him groan, though, and could feel from his movements that she had more than hit home -- she had done damage.
Then the beast practically rolled and she toppled off of him, hissing and ears and whiskers flat as she tumbled. She saw his foot come down, but she was in no position to dodge, and could only flail, almost like the lizard had before. The claws grazed her side, leaving shallow but bloody marks, but his tail hit her square in the hindquarters and sent her spinning and hissing along the ground; his teeth nipped off her ear and ripped bloody marks in her scalp, shallow though they were.
Shaking and bleeding, the cheetah forced herself to her feet, blood running down her head and over her face from her ear. Yet the creature was not coming after her, invincible and ferocious, ready to finish her off.
He was fleeing. Not very well, and leaving a trail of blood in his wake. Regardless, he was retreating, and he had gotten no food from her.
Shaking as adrenaline wore off, she felt she should be prouder. However, her tail was a mass of pain, the bleeding only just slowing as massive clots formed, and every breath and movement hurt from where the beast had battered and sliced her. No doubt the wound on her head would worsen her hunting; she could very well starve after this. With a low hiss, body drooping from exhaustion, the cheetah trudged back over to her meal and collapsed next to it. It was safe. If one more damn creature came by she'd be dead, but she had managed to keep it from a stronger predator.
That just didn't happen often in a cheetah's life. With a tired but not entirely discontent sigh, the cheetah licked at her paw and passed it vigorously over her ruined ear, seeming to have completely forgotten about the bird-man. She figured that if he was intelligent, he would have fled...
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Stan
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #19 on Apr 25, 2009, 4:32pm » | |
Fargone alit on the back of the carcass and stared around at the trampled grass and the dirt turned dark with blood spill. The branches of the tree rustled as the stork-man moved among them, still too frightened by the specter of the lizard to descend – or perhaps too injured, which made a far more interesting prospect. Fargone felt rather displeased with the fighters; in particular the stork-man for the startlement he’d caused, but all of them in general for failing to make something useful of all the violence. That was to say — “All of that, and none of you manage to die?”
Fargone paused, winced over his own folly; it was a comment for among other vultures, not those they hoped to feed upon. He said it rather plaintive, but he had no illusions that he would garner sympathy with the remark – wishing death upon someone never went over well. With both cheetah and tree in his line of vision, he bolted down some innards to make up for the supper he’d lost, and waited to be driven off.
Azubuike did not give the vulture long to eat; although his ribs ached something fierce and he couldn’t stop the shakes in his hands, he carefully found his way to the acacia’s lower branches and then down to the ground. It hurt when he landed, more than he expected, but he straightened up and breathed deep and made himself look healthy, as birds do. Whether or not he could fly in his feathered form – well, the test would have to wait until he had no witnesses. He felt indebted to the cheetah, but he could not trust a predator so far as to show himself crippled to her.
Before he could deal with the vulture – which stared at him warily as it bolted a piece of intestine – Azubuike felt the need to express that indebtedness. He turned to the cheetah, crouched to be on her level, and offered an awkward smile – not wide enough to show teeth. “Thank you. You saved my life – both in sharing your meal, and attacking the lizard.” He cleared his throat, bounced to his feet – thought, ow, ow, ow – and made a snarling lunge at the vulture.
Crying curses the vulture heaved into the air, wheeled upwards on a draft, and then tilted away – in the direction the lizard had gone, it seemed. Maybe hoping its earlier comment would not prove true in the long run. Azubuike shook his head, folded down to sit cross-legged in the shade. “Obnoxious bird. Glad I don’t have to deal with them often.” Then he clasped an arm across his ribs to hold in the steady throb, and glanced sidelong at the cheetah. He could not really judge the damage, through all the blood; and could not help but feel responsible for it, in some part.
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Breeze
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #20 on Jun 30, 2009, 8:04am » | |
Oh she could kill that damn vulture. Thandiwe's ears and whiskers snapped back, tail lashing despite the pain, when the stupid bird appeared, landed on her food, and then asked why they couldn't do him a favour and die while they were at it. If she wasn't completely exhausted and injured, the cheetah would have reached out and snapped that thing's little neck straight in half. And then he kept on eating her food!
"If you don't fly off I swear I'm going to bite off your wings and leave you to starve."
It struck her as awfully nasty after it came out, but beyond her aggressive posture deflating, the cheetah didn't show it. Instead, she snapped to attention when the bird man flopped onto the ground. She could tell from smell alone that he was injured, though he hid it better than she did. Then he knelt to her level, though, and offered thanks.
Thandiwe smiled, purring her appreciation. That purr only got louder when he lunged for the stupid damn vulture, who finally flew off. The cheetah laughed at the man's comment, though it got cut off in a pained cough.
"I'm impressed he had the guts to continue to eat my food after insulting me." With that she glanced over at the man, noticed him pulling his arm in. "Will you live?"
Asking if he was all right just seemed like a waste of time. That and before she could elaborate, she scented a creature that made her ears flatten.
"Oh, would you stop spying on me and say hello?"
A rustle, then Sizwe, the serval who had fled from the giant lizard, crawled with embarrassment out of the bushes. Frankly, he had been hoping to sneak some food during the fight, but had been too scared to actually commit the deed. Now here he was, being exposed in front of two injured, irate animals, as a pest. Ears and whiskers drooping and stomach almost rubbing on the ground, he stared at the ground.
"Hi."
"Hi yourself. I'm Thandiwe. This is..." The cheetah trailed off, then laughed, once again ending up coughing. "Oh, damn. We just fought off a predator as complete strangers."
How completely bizarre; what animals helped each other without knowing motives or even names? Sizwe glanced nervously in-between the two animals, wondering if he would be able to run away if they turned on him.
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Stan
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #21 on Aug 4, 2009, 9:28am » | |
Azubuike huffed a laugh at the cheetah’s aggression towards the vulture, entirely of a mind with her, and not at all finding her threat unwarranted; it was tit for tat, after all. Nor did the bird-man forebear from preening, running a claw along the vein of a long feather, when he heard the cat’s appreciative purr and laugh. Her question, though, brought him up short; with a disingenuous smile, he dismissed her concern with a flick of a clawed hand and a shrug. Who does? Azubuike might have replied, if her flattened ears and a rustle in the grass hadn’t made him roll to his knees, hand braced to the earth, eyes wide – ready to flee, to fight, although he couldn’t imagine their luck could be so abysmal.
He recognized the little cat which emerged from hiding as belonging to the kind which played hunting-games among the tall grasses after rodents, all long limbs and massive ears and springboard pounces. This one, though, looked more abashed than intent and gleeful. The cheetah seemed to know the beast personally, anyway, so with a shrug Azubuike settled back down on his haunches. The rest of his tension eased away under the effect of the cheetah’s humor; he’d seen her angry, fighting, but he rather liked this attitude more – although it meant no less pain, when she made him laugh so that his ribs burned with it. The bird-man coughed, chuckled, coughed some more.
“Strangers? Not anymore – we’ve even got matching coughs.” He shook out his feathers, settled them close. “I’m Azubuike.” A breeze† skirled into the shade of the tree, caught the bird’s attention and turned his mind to the lowering sun, the cooling air, and the fact that he had a full belly despite his wounds. He should, he admitted to himself, have gotten moving the moment the lizard showed up; now, with less time left of light to travel, he risked another night sleeping bare under the moon, a feathery buffet for all the strange predators of these open lands.
With an expression suspiciously like a pout on his grey face, he eased to his feet, fussed with the feathers that lay across his hips. “I’ve got to get moving, though – I’m on my way to wetter weather.” He smiled at the cheetah. “If you ever find yourself in the swamp thataway–” He waved his hand in the direction of the sun’s setting. “– Look for me, drop in. I’ll repay you fish for bushbuck.” With a last jaunty look for the two cats, he strode out from under the acacia’s protection, head lowered against the sun’s slanted rays; he made his strides long, and hid with each step the pain which jarred up into his side.
† Psst, Breeze, you’re in the frame! *shot*
[Aaand scene? Or do you want me to throw someone else at Sizwe and Thandiwe?]
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Breeze
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #22 on Aug 16, 2009, 7:45pm » | |
(Nah, this is a good ending. We should plan for them to meet up again, heh xD )
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Stan
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #23 on Aug 16, 2009, 10:20pm » | |
(We should! Perhaps we could start a bit of the dry lands on fire, and Thandiwe could be driven into the swamps that way? It would be double the fun: cat and bird interaction, and also a reason for there to be a fire. I'm thinking pyromaniac pseudo-human, myself.)
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Breeze
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #24 on Aug 17, 2009, 10:52am » | |
(Sounds good to me! Havoc is always fun xD )
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Stan
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #25 on Aug 17, 2009, 4:28pm » | |
(All right, I just joined Kgosi, an insane human/lion hybrid with sparky powers. In order to spark, though, he has to shed blood; do you have any characters who might get in a fight with him, or should I just toss him in a thorn bush to start the fire?)
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Breeze
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #26 on Aug 24, 2009, 6:51am » | |
I think a thorn bush would be best; none of my plains characters are that foolish, heh.
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Stan
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| | Re: <A Minor Annoyance>
« Reply #27 on Aug 24, 2009, 7:23am » | |
Will do! I will even try to avoid any Br'er Rabbit or biblical references. "Try" being the operative word.
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