|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:20 pm
 For once in his life, Jabril wasn't thinking about science.
It took a fair bit of effort. He wasn't sure that he liked it. Not thinking about science meant that he had to think about other things, like how long it would take Nightmare Specimen #1 to gnaw her way out of her cage again, or what to do about the sulfur smell in his third-favorite coat, or how he was supposed to get ahold of more beer without stopping by that insipid "HQ". Almost all of them were annoying or trivial. Certainly none of them could compare to the sinuous slide of electrons or the microcosm of the petri dish.
Still, even his mother had begun to give him strange looks lately, and Jabril did like to please her. So he'd promised himself that he'd take a break. At least this exercise gave him new insight into how empty and pointless the lives of most of his peers were. He could write it up as a psychological study.
The brightly-colored kitsu rested on his haunches and sipped at a flask of ale. It was a sunny day. He had a nice drink, a stack of books, and a good view. Reading Neitzche wasn't even that bad, so long as he could stop himself from constantly criticizing the philosopher's lack of methodology. He should be content instead of restless.
But he wasn't.
Jabril began to fidget. Then he suddenly caught the scent of old, dead blood on the air.
... What the bloody hell?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:39 pm
 The pleasantries of this day were going ignored, compelety, in trade for self-awareness. She hadn't realized how poorly her body may fair to damage, this being her first injury in this form. And to black out now was not an option. But one thing she had come to realize in some way, was her energy and how it functioned. It wasn't like that of the living. It didn't burn, or grow stronger with desperation. It was simply like a cup of water, and once poured forth, there was nothing left. Empty.
She had finally reached that stage, much to her dismay. Encounters with Death, followed by a random scuffle in one day did tend to do that, she supposed. The bump into the Spaniard had, in the end, been of little help. Neither of them were capable of fixing this situation.
Her paw flexed over the said focus of the situation while the rest of her body lay idle. Empty, more similiar to the corpse she was left as more than ever. She didn't even have the energy to walk, and best she could do was remain still till her energy level was managable. But that stillness helped stop the ache in her side, the tell-tale signs of her broken rib being hidden by her stained paw.
Unmoving on her side, Setsu closed her eyes for a moment of mock rest, ignoring the singing birds above, and the scampering chipmunks in the pink dust of spring. Just a moment of rest...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:07 pm
Jabril turned back to his book and obstinately read through a few more lines. There were more pleasant scents in the air other than old, congealed hemoglobin. The pine was nice. So was wet bark. And fresh mountain air was unsurpassed in any human world.
The the strange smell tugged at both his intellect and his senses. Where had it come from? Blood that old didn't just appear from nowhere, and he hadn't seen any corpses on his way in. He should-
No. No. Jabril had made a promise to his mother. No science for an entire week. He wouldn't give in.
The male scanned another paragraph, but the words didn't really sink into his mind, and the type seemed to blur together. What if the smell came from something dangerous? He could take a wee look, that wouldn't harm anything, and-
No.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
Research beckoned her fair paw to him! This was a sign. An omen! Jabril could never resist a summons from his great goddess! Oh, what a foolish male he had been, to ever ignore his calling! Who cared if no one understood what he was trying to accomplish? Not Jabril! There was a great, wide world out there to investigate! And it needed his obvious genius!
He sprung off of the boulder without warning, surprising a flock of birds into fluttering up off of the tree that they'd perched in. The flask of beer clattered unnoticed to the ground. Jabril was off! Off to meet destiny!
Jabril loped through the forest, making quick time over the half-melted snow, before he came upon Setsu's prone form in the snow. He stopped abruptly, then padded more slowly towards her. Whatever Jabril had been expecting to find, it wasn't the warrior capricorn, limp and in such a weak-looking state.
"Feckin' 'ell."
He tapped a paw against her shoulder to see if she was still alive. Or, er, moving. That is. Checking for breath wouldn't work.
"...I thought ye didna sleep."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:20 pm
She was so close, so near to 'resting'. But resting meant blacking out, the only form of sleep this body could undergo. And she couldn't risk it now. But that risk was soon gone, kitsu ears raising slowly to the sound of distant birds squawking and flapping harshly into the sky. What had set them off?
The female tensed abit, thinking maybe it was the black cloaked kitsu once again, with his scythe and smirk at the ready. But her fur wasn't standing on end like the last encounter, so it couldn't be. With two toned eyes set dead ahead, Setsu waited. And nothing was to be seen.
Clenching her jaw after some time, she lifted herself up an inch, hating the texture of the soggy mountain grounds. The fallen pine and leaves had done a well and annoying job of absorbing cold-snow melts. Hardly doing any adjustments, she sagged back to the ground, closing her eyes to try and find rest once more. Until she felt a fast paced tap-tap-tap, vibrating nearby through the ground.
Brow twitched to the accented voice that broke the calm nature, mind sharp to remember the owner of that voice. And then she was prodded in the shoulder, only giving a curt hum in response. "Hush now." Red and indigo orbs opened to seek out the other, giving a tired glare. "I'm trying to 'sleep'. Thanks for asking..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:39 pm
"In the middle o' the forest? I do'nae think so. We still ha' carrion beasties out here."
And if Setsu slept... would she ever wake up? Could dead body work to stop the flow of blood the way a living one would? It was a disquieting thought. Jabril had seen many bodies rot on on the cliffs and crags of the Mountain. This whole place was covered in bleached bones.
The male ignored politeness in favor of sniffing at Setsu's gut. She was his sign, after all, and no good researcher let such a powerful sense go to waste. He himself smelled like ash and leather and wet fur, but he'd learned to tune how own odor out.
"Yuir bleedin'. They'll be smellin' ye from miles around, jus' like I did. What're ye thinkin'?"
Jabril tried not to think about how much he sounded like his mother when he said that. It annoyed him that someone as interesting as Setsu would be so fickle with her own life, when far more boring kitsusagi fouled up the whole mountain. He guessed that might be what it felt like to be concerned.
"Yeh- c'mon, then." He tugged at the fur of Setsu's hood, willing her to stand up. "We'd best get ye inside."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:55 pm
Carrion? The thought was shrugged off, not too interested on that matter. She was sure she'd run into those 'beasties' eventually anyways. Head canted when she noticed the other lean in, her lips falling in a frown to his obvious investigation. Her cleaner paw lifted to plaster against his nose, pushing it away lamely. Hello, even she had a sense of personal space. Almost too much of a sense for it. And so she wouldn't think twice either of overstepping politeness to set it straight.
"Congrats, you're a genius." Setsu rested against the ground once again, her single horn scrapping into the ground. What was she thinking? More than what she was doing, that was for sure. The female just looked away, in no mood to rant on her thought process. Surely the sand ability would be enough protection. So long as she stayed awake.
Surprise hued her eyes as they widened slightly, glancing back to the scientist. What now? A shift and tug on her hoodie forced a growl from her throat, curling from her side with the pulled motion of her attire. Damn that Irish kitsusagi. Her hackles rose under her clothes, both in aggravation and the cramped aches in her side.
Shooting the other a glare to release her hood, Setsu staggered to her four paws. Where did he expect her to go to?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:57 pm
Jabril rolled his eyes at Setsu's glaring. The first buzz of inspiration had already worn off, but he wasn't about to let himself be ground down by this cranky wench of a femme. He knew better than to expect her to be glad to see him, or grateful that he might be in a position to help her out again.
Still, it was a little strange to see Setsu so... weak. It didn't suit her.
"We'll get ye patched up a' my place, and ye can rest there a bit, so yuir not prey for th' vultures an' their ilk while yuir down," Jabril informed her, in what he hoped was an authoritative sort of voice. By now he was definitely channeling his mother. "I do'nae care if ye want t'take yuir nap in th'middle o' th' forest, if yuir sensitive bout yuir coat, or if ye want t'growl a' me th'whole way there. Yuir sort of m'friend-"
Not actually his friend, not his friend the way that Swax was, but Setsu could stand to be in the same room as him for over twenty minutes without freaking out or having her eyes glaze over, which was more than Jabril could say for most of the lackwits on this Mountain.
"- an' yuir too interestin' fer me t'let ye extinguish yourself out 'ere."
He flicked his left tail. If this emotion was concern, it was fairly bothersome.
"I do'nae know why ye got yuirself inta such a risky situation as got ye this banged up, but if yuir feelin' overcome with gratitude, then ye can tell me all abou' it."
With that, Jabril set off through the snow, lowing his way through the banks so that Setsu would have an easier time plodding behind him. He looked determined enough to walk back there and harass her more if she didn't follow him. DIdn't specimens know their own worth these days?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:59 am
Oh yes, the wench was cranky. What with a corpse of a body that now had a crack and cut on the side? No problem, surely. And now with her four paws set to the ground for balance, the injury was open to stench and bend as it pleased. Setsu canted her head towards the left of her torso, eyeing the mess before turning sights forward.
Patched up? If her senses of emotion were still with her, she'd have found that humorous. Humorous but true. She paced forward a step or two, forced to hang around and listen to Jabril's list of plans. It had been odd though, she must admit. Here she had been seeking the scientist, thinking him the only one capable of mending her in an almost proper way, and he had met her halfway. Even when she couldn't finish getting to her destination, her blood and Jab's curiousity finished the job. Again, humorous.
Muzzle held tightly with the continuance of Jabril's speech, a lifted brow aimed his way. "Oh, welll that's an interesting piece of information..." What a wierd individual, bothering to title an undead a 'friend'. Still, it was more than what others had bothered choosing.
An amused but dry laugh left her idle throat, shaking her head to the ground. "Hm, yes. Can't let the experiment disappear now, can we." Ears flickered, wondering just how far extinguished she already was.
Forcing paws to move, the kitsu made slow pace after the other. She was in no state to argue as well as she normally did. This would be a fun trip, and it was all she could do to ignore the loose but sharp prodding in her side. "Gratitude? Wait....I think I feel it coming. Give it a moment..." She half smiled to herself, using only memory as a filter to remember what each emotion used to feel like. She was recieving help from the other in a time of need, and so...
"Yeah. I am." Like she said before, she was tired.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:36 pm
Had Setsu just laughed? And then made a joke? Sort of?
Jabril was glad that she couldn't see his face like this, because the whole exchange had him feeling slightly poleaxed. Setsu was just about the last femme on the whole Mountain he would have expected to have a sense of humor. Maybe she'd lost more blood than he'd thought. Maybe something had gone terribly, fascinatingly wrong! With poison or dark magics! An undead would need blood, wouldn't she? The way she needed the rest of her body to function. Or maybe not, maybe he was-
He hadn't even gotten a good look at the place where Setsu was bleeding out. No need to draw a hypothesis without solid facts. That wasn't correct methodology.
"Yeh, well, ye know me priorities, but do'na think that means I c'n carry ye all th'way back if ye pass out," Jabril told Setsu, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure that still was still upright and following him. He cracked a small smile. "As ye know, we in'ellectuals are fragile. I cannae go breakin' a claw."
It was true. He really couldn't carry her. Jabril had inherited his mother's abnormal size, but all that had done for him was make him skinny, gangly, and elongated. There was little power in his frame. When she was rested, a soldily-built femme like Setsu could probably pin Jabril without breaking a sweat.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:06 pm
Had she? It wasn't nearly anythign to dwell on, at least from her own perspective.
The female kept her eyes to her paws, watching each step that was successful. Left, then right, then all over again. The ground was nearly mush, a horrible blend between winter and spring, but still cool enough to be bothersome. Setsu let these thoughts shuffle lamely in her mind, not willing to poke a conversation with Jabril at the moment. Him talking on a tangent and her climbing this slope may be enough for her to toss herself off the damn mountain. Maybe.
Eyes slid closed while she walked on, just relying on sound now to follow the other. Temptation was high to just sink back to the ground and rest like planned. Screw the vultures. With the blood just leeking, she could imagine how much more pale she appeared. Was she even leaving a trail?
What had he said? Setsu opened her eyes, blinking towards the other as he spoke. Him, fragile? From a distance one wouldn't guess so, simply by his size. But come to think of it, yes, he was on the scrawny side. But that claimed nothing. Even a body type such as that could be put to combative use. "Sure, sure." Ears flopped tiredly as she glanced around.
"Priorities? Can't say I know them."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:44 pm
"Expirim'nts," Jabril reminded Setsu.
The pair traversed the side of a sheer, stark cliff, and Jabril might have been impressed by the view if it were not so very familiar. He did not often venture down to the base of the Mountain, all full of parents and kits playing happy families around the HQ. The solitary spaces near the top of the Mountain were more his style. He needed fresh air to keep a clear head for thinking.
"Nae much else t'achieve here, when ye think o' it. Git born, grow oldur, ha' a family, then die. Tha's the most anyone 'ere can ha' ambition for, if they do'nae set their own goals. Cos we're we're na an empire, or even a proper country, yeh?"
He tried to slow his pace. It was clear that Setsu was making a lot of effort to keep up. Her steps were measured and deliberate.
Jabril was a talker, even when the only person he had to talk to was himself, and since Setsu hadn't started glaring again, he took that as a sign to fill up the silence between them.
"D'ye think the human world ye were in was be'er? They ha' more love fer my kind in those place, I think, but I do'nae know if I would care t'be beholden t'things like jobs an' govirnments. Sounds like a great load o' bother."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:02 pm
Well of course experiments. But that was a very vague answer, as if that was all his priorities entailed. Perhaps it was, as anyone how knew Jabril could probably guess.
The female followed along dully, that is before they came to the clear edge of the cliff, able to trace around it's edge. Her wlaking stopped and attention diverted, head and eyes turned to the scene ahead and below. It was remarkable. Almost like a flashback to her former life, training with others amongst the cliffs to enhance their abilities of sand.
Scaled tails flicked while the femme moved nearer the edge, looking down the straight drop. One ear slid back to the direction of Jabril's voice, absorbing his words. She was mildly surprised it wasn't about molecules or test tubes, for once. "And I thought I was the depressing one." Such dry ambitions, much too average to get overjoyed about. But who needed an empire, or country system to have a better purpose?
Her stance shifted, both to a gale of wind blowing in from the rocky surface, and to the word human. Garnet and indigo eyes turned to Jabril with a perplexed expression. "Where have you heard that?" A better world? Were they even talking about the same version of the 'world'? The kitsu peered back to the open landscape, for once analyzing it's freedoms held. "No, this place is much better. We had no government either, but this place....holds much more peace." But it wasn't her place, and in that, she couldn't enjoy her stay.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:20 pm
"Seems t'me kitsu come t'this world from all kinds o' other places. Where they were more like 'umans," Jabril said. "M'parents were like tha'. I thought ye must be one as well, fer ye dress like yuir na one of us."
He looked back over shoulder again. This time there was a very bemused look in his strange green-speckled eyes.
"Ye know. Like ya ha' somethin' t'cover up."
His muzzle split into a sharp grin, and he almost felt like laughing. How could a kitsu move proper in all those heavy things? All Jabril cared for was having a coat with pockets to carry things in.
"I do'nae know about this peace. Most o' the great research in other places has come in times of war, yeh? Tha's when people rilly need us. But I'll take yuir word on it."
Certainly, if ignorant people took an interest in Jabril's work, it would probably mean more annoyances and headaches for him.
The pair came upon the crevasse that they had been forced to jump across the first time that Setsu took refuge in Jabril's lair. This time, however, a large dead low was sprawled across the gap, forming a passable bridge. Apparent Jabril had been busy in her absence.
"Think ye c'n balance it as ye are?"
That smell of old blood was getting thicker.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:37 pm
"Human, yes. But my world was complicated. Much the land looked like this, till one 'society' massed into technology. And you can imagine what chaos that can create." Curiousity had certainly killed the cat.
His glance went unnoticed, but her eyes narrowed at his words. No embarrassment really, just a tad bit of astonishment to his detail. "And what you're wearing holds any decency?" It was more a habit of wearing clothes than anything else, true. Along with the fact that yes, there were scars to hide. She doubted the fur could do that.
Setsu turned on her heel, stepping away from the scene to continue their little trek. But that was a spot to keep to memory; it seemed perfect for some solitary comforts.
"You'll get just as much inspiration from peace as from war. And best perk is there no shed blood to stain guilt into you." She could only wonder if his parents had thrived and lived by such logics. And if he had too learned them from the two.
The gapping hole was soon before them, and Setsu eyed the make-bridge warily. It appeared stable enough. "You sure about that now?" She was in no mood for sudden tests of theory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:48 am
"Indecent? Ye do'nae like me coat? Oh, m'hurt now," Jabril said, with a low half-chuckle.
The skinny scientist leapt up into the log bridge, as nimble as he'd ever been. Bits of snow disturbed by his footfalls went tumbling down into the abyss.
"I'll ha' ye know-" He sat back in his hind legs, placed one of his forepaws over his heart, and struck a- well. He didn't strike a dashing pose, because that sort of look was utterly beyond him, but it seemed that he was trying to show off. "-tha' I am in top form fer the kitsusagi race. Ye think I would wish t'deny the world a good look a' this. Oh, I am nae so cruel."
Had Jabril been a naked man in an open brown trenchcoat, Setsu could easy have deemed him some kind of flasher. But the flecks on his face and chest were colored fur, not freckled skin, and his green limbs and banded ears did not look even remotely human.
"Could ne'er tell if ye ha' any looks to ye, wi' all tha' stuff on."
Jaril put on a self-satisfied smile, then got back to his feet and finished making his way across the span. At one point he wobbled and almost fell off, but the shaky bridge held firm. Keeping his tails spread for balance seemed to help.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
