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 Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 7:45 am
Yes!
As something brushed against his right hind legs, the scaled stallion stabbed down with his tail and flicked it up and out of the water a moment later. A fourth fish flopped onto the bank, dead already from a severed spine. Grinning pointily to himself, the spined Nequus scrambled up out of the water and nudged his latest catch over to the others. Four fish. That was plenty for a meal, for starters at least; he could always catch more if he was still hungry. Still grinning, Ignatius placed a hoof down on the tail of one of his fish and dipped his head down to take a good bite of it. The flesh was cool, juicy and very tasty. Ignatius gulped his mouthful down and bent for another; this place was definitely better than D’ob.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:08 am
...There was a large creature some way along the river. Aku blinked, pausing half way through another mouthful of fish. He hadn't noticed the Nequus, busy as he had been with his dinner. Tch - Mel would have slapped him around for that lapse in concentration. She'd refused to let him go up the red mountain with her, and he was beginning to see why. She'd barely got out of that little escapade in one piece even without him dragging her back.
It was then that he realised that he wasn't dealing with your average, common-or-garden Nequus. The stallion looked like a Reya at first glance, but he was covered in spines and had only one tail. And he was eating fish - that was the dead giveaway. A Nequus who ate meat? Aku hoped he didn't look like dinner, and decided to placate the beast (who had almost certainly smelled him by now) with something else to eat. He trotted over with the rest of his fish in his jaws and dropped it near the strange Nequus.
"...I can catch you s'more if you want," he ventured carefully. "Just, uh, yanno...I'd prefer not to be eaten, if that's okay by you. Sir."
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:17 am
Ignatius paused mid-way through pulling the top half off his second fish when the voice came. The stallion raised his head slowly and turned to regard the creature that had spoken. Ah, it was a Rit. The Reya took a few moments to ponder the little thing’s words, regarding it carefully as he did so. "I'll let you know when I've finished these,” he said with a nod to his catch. “And you needn’t worry,” he dipped his head, tore off a piece of fish and gulped it down, “I don’t eat things that talk; tends to get people angry with you.”
He had to admit he was quite impressed by the furry thing’s attitude; a very sensible way to keep yourself from being eaten or stepped on. Plus the Rit wasn’t running away screaming; that was always a bonus. “What’s your name then, Rit?” the stallion asked as he took another mouthful of fish, savoring the slippery goodness of guts down his throat. Hopefully this conversation would be more interesting than the last one he’d had; damn stupid boring Bae.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:12 am
"Aku," said Aku, relieved. "You're a good fisher, Mister, um..." Well, he could wait to be given a name in return. "How d'you catch them? With your teeth?"
That wasn't a very nice thought, Aku decided. Having to stick one's nose into icy cold water in order to grab hold of a slippery fish - no, probably not the best way of going about things. Judging by the number of fish in the pile, and by the size of them, this strange Reya had a better system going. He didn't have paws to flip the fish out of the water like Aku did, so seeing him with so many of them was pretty impressive.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:28 am
“Name’s Ignatius,” Ignatius said with a nod; he didn’t see any reason not to tell the furry little creature, so far it was actually being quite pleasant company. “I use this,” the Reya said in reply to the feline’s other words and curling his tail around so that the blue-eyed creature could see it. “Wait until one of them’s in the right place then stab it and flick it onto the bank. Works pretty well on the whole.”
Though sometimes the fish didn’t make it onto the bank and he was forced to make a grab for it before it was washed away; that was always embarrassing and annoying. Both of these things in mind, he didn’t mention such failures to Aku; nicer than average though the spotted Rit was being he didn’t want to show any sign of weakness just in case said Rit had friends who weren’t quite as nice as he was. As if the average Nequus didn’t have enough ammo to use against him without any help, the bastards.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:41 am
Aku grinned broadly at the spine. "Awesome. Wish I had me one'a those - I usually flick the fish out with my paw, but sometimes I screw up and it just flies way down the river. That's always embarrassing. 'Specially when Mel's watching and laughing at my dumb a**..."
He gave the stallion another look over. Yes, he was almost certainly a Reya. Some kind of mutant, perhaps? A crossbreed? But a cross with what? Mutant seemed more likely. In any case, he was impressive: all those scales and spines and sharp teeth...
"Yanno, it's nice to meet someone your size who doesn't think fish is disgusting," Aku said thoughtfully.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:56 am
The spined stallion wondered vaguely and briefly who this Mel was but soon found himself distracted by the Rit’s other words. He grinned; he’d been wondering when that would come up. Usually it was sooner, but Aku did seem intent on being polite. This was a sensible idea in Ignac’s opinion; the Rit hadn’t even directly mentioned it, smart boy.
“Quite,” the amber-eyed Reya said with a sharp-toothed grin. “Only known one other Nequus to like fish and he was very different to me; s’ far as I know I’m one of a kind. Unique, just like everyone else, but more so.” The scaled creature chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Some weird s**t went on with my fruit apparently, don’t know why it caused this but according to my sire I was normal through most of my development.” Aku didn’t need to know the nature of said weird s**t; that was... personal, not something you shared with somebody you’d just met. Hells, he hadn’t even shared it with his fellow freak Sanue.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:17 am
"Eh, weird s**t happens," Aku said good-naturedly, thinking it safe to munch on his own fish again. After all, as he'd said, he could always catch another for Ignatius. "I mean, neither my ma nor my dad were black, an' she had six cubs, an' I wuz the only black one. Okay, so I didn't come out as awesome as you did, but I still know kinda what it's like to be the odd one out." He took a mouthful of fish, chewed briefly, swallowed and grinned. "Normal is overrated."
He found himself wishing that Mel was with him. For all his friendliness he was still a little frightened of the big carnivore: equally, though, he was sure that his equine sister would find Ignatius fascinating. She always seemed to like the freaks - Storm, for instance. He grimaced inwardly at the memory of the golden mare. What a snappy b***h she'd been.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:41 am
Ignatius lifted his head and laughed at the Rit’s words. “I like that sentiment,” he said with a nod. “I like being like this. Scales protect me in battles, teeth and tail help me there too and eating meat means I don’t have to spend as much time eating as normal Nequus do. Few meals like this a day,” he nodded down at the fish, “and I’m set. Most of my sort have to spend almost all day munching on grass and leaves and that. Keeps the idiots away too, the sort that run screaming about demons and things when they see me.” Ignatius snorted in amusement as he recalled the rang of folk who had either fled at the mere sight of him or legged it when he growled and licked his lips at them. Idiots.
“Only problem I see with it,” he said as he gulped down another mouthful of fish, “is that I don’t stay warm all that well. Usually live down on the coast but it’s rotten there this time of year.” He looked forward to spring and returning to his comfy cave, yes, and to seeing Sanue again. The eagle-eyed stallion had been good to talk to; much as he liked being as he was it was nice to have another freak around to chat to.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:26 am
Aku was suddenly very glad of his fur. "I can see how that would suck," he remarked, looking over the stallion's scaled body again. "But hey, like you say, chances are nobody's got a suit of armour like yours. I bet Mel would go nuts if she saw you - she's crazy about cool stuff like this. And maybe she'll finally admit that eating fish is not yuck and just for Rit."
He took another large mouthful of fish, reaffirming his belief that it would definitely suck to have to eat grass all the time. Fish was just so yummy!
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:53 am
The tall stallion gave a rumbling chuckle and swallowed the last piece of his last fish. Deciding that he didn’t need any more food for now, he dropped down into the grass so as to be on a better eye level with Aku; he’d give himself neck strain if he kept trying to peer down at the little creature.
“So who’s this Mel then?” he asked once he’d settled himself. “Not often I hear about people who’d think I was cool rather than freaky.”
By the sound of it she was a Nequus, too. When the Rit had first mentioned her he’d assumed her another of the furry things but now it was obvious that she was not. Tucking his wings more comfortably against his sides and scratching at an itch on his back with the tip of his tail (it made a distinct rasping sound) Ignatius awaited a response.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:23 pm
"Melantho," Aku said, swallowing the last of his own fish. "She's my...well, I call her my sister. She's a Reya like you, and black like - well, blacker than me. We chose to be family, cuz nobody else wanted us. Sucks to be them; they missed out on our awesome." He grinned brightly. "She eats grass and fruit and that, but I don't hold it against her."
It was pleasing that Ignatius had decided to come down to his level. He didn't feel quite so small and vulnerable now - while it would be near-impossible to deliver the usual deterrent of a clawed swipe to the nose with any effectiveness, he could also easily dodge away and be gone before the Nequus could get to his hooves again. Not that he expected the scaly creature to attack, but after having been on the run for a while it was natural for Aku to think this way.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:38 pm
Ah, a black female Reya hu? “Forgive me for saying so,” Ignatius said, curling his tail around himself and grinning, "but your sister sounds really hot.”
Family by choice. It was an interesting concept, not one he’d ever considered for sure. It was said that blood was thicker than water, but Ignatius didn’t really see where water fitted into the equation. Family was probably what you made it, he decided internally.
“Where is she, anyway?” the stallion asked a moment later; when his father had been alive they’d always stuck quite close together. Still, he’d been quite young still when his sire had died; not quite a colt but a young stallion; presumably as you got older you saw less of your family chosen or not. It seemed like a bit of a shame to the horntailed Reya.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:48 pm
Aku laughed heartily at Ignatius' comment. "Hahaha! I bet she'd forgive you for saying it in a heartbeat. 'Course I can't judge Nequus so well, but she's strong and healthy and totally cool. Not that I'm biased or anything. As to where she is, she's off meeting a friend of hers: Saint Jackie, we call him. He's a Bae. Takes food from the humans to foals and parents in Shrilal. I know she's after some information from him, but I reckon if she gets herself some fruit into the bargain she'll consider it a bonus." He grinned. "Her father tried to mate her to him once. She didn't take that too well - hence why we're on the run from the old herd now - but they're friends, so I guess it's all good."
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:55 pm
Ignatius gave a snort and shook his head. “Herd politics are more trouble than they’re worth from what I’ve gathered. Wouldn’t mind associating with a big group on and off but I couldn’t stick being told who I can and can’t shag if I fancy, or don’t fancy. Oh, and most herds probably wouldn’t put up with my diet either.” Still... thoughts of herds aside, perhaps he ought to look up this Melanto character. Meeting with Sanue had highlighted to the odd Reya his lack of friends and allies; making more couldn't hurt, especially if they were attractive.
“Any idea when she’ll be back?” the scaled stallion asked Aku, head canted slightly to one side with interest. “She sounds like the sort of person I’d like to meet.”
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