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 Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:07 pm
The sky was clear tonight, clear and dark. It was the perfect backdrop to the handful of stars sprinkled across the night sky. Zinduka looked at them with wonder, and signed quietly. The silence around him was pressing, almost unnerving; he never knew the land could be this way, it was as if it was watching his every move and listen to every little crackling his paws made on the grass.
He didn't know where he was going, only that he couldn't fall asleep that night. It was one of those nights, where he wished only to have a companion, a friend. It wasn't going to happen anytime soon though, he knew, but he couldn't help but hope. Once in awhile Zinduka scanned the horizon, not exactly sure what he was looking for, but still... hopeful.
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:14 pm
Carried faintly by a meandering breeze, the scent of distant smoke caught the attention of the young hyena cub. She lay in the shadow of a small outcrop, alert, still as death, except to swivel an ear back. A small bit of starlight illuminated her face, the rest of her unusually colored form lost in the shadows of the stones.
After a moment she ajusted herself, lowering her head gingerly to her paws and tucking her tail up against her side. She lay quietly, ears plastered back, but anxiety raced through her bloodstream. Her eyes were locked on the grass before her.
She was lonely, perhaps. No one would watch over her this night. But adrenaline pushed these thoughts from her mind, her focus entirely on the sounds and sights of the african night.
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:58 pm
Zinduka continued to wander under the dark starry night, stopping frequently to glance up at the twinkling overhead. The cool air brushed past Zin in wifts, catching his fur in a playful dance. He raised his head and sniffed at the night sky, and was met by the usual scents of the grassland. This time, though, Zin sensed something different: another smell clung in the air, mingling with the wet grass and earthy scent he was used to. It was alive, the smell of course; Zin was sure of it.
He sniffed at the air again, more carefully this time. The smell vaguely reminded him of something in his past, but search as he might, he could not bring them out from his distant memories. Without meaning to, Zin was following the scent. He trailed after it, as if mesmerized, and zigzaged across the great plain. He lowered his body closer to the ground, sense that he was closing in on whatever creature that was nearby. Unbeknowest to him, a female hyena pup was in his vicinity, and he was getting dangerously close.
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Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:01 pm
Her body jolted as she heard the first sound of the approaching hyena, her heart pounding in her throat. She tried to steady herself. She had not heard the sound. It was her imagination. Nevertheless it came again; pawsteps in the grass. Then an undeniable scent on the crisp night air.
She had to stop herself from whining instictively for a parent, the fur on her back beginning to prickle. She pressed her body closer to the outcrop, listening intently. The ground was harder nearer to the stones, the sounds more distinct. She knew the animal was on the other side of the stones from her, but this was not much comefort. She lay as still as possible, although her breathing was rapid.
((I'm leaving out of town tomorrow. I might have some net access over this weekend, but starting monday I'll be totally without technology for a while x3. I'll be back on the 31st so don't think I died/forgot/ignored you. ))
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Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 8:06 am
It was fate, it must be fate, because this is just too strange to be a coincidence. Just as the female hyena pup was stilling her body in hopes of avoiding the encounter with Zinduka, he was heading ever closer in her direction. No, he didn't hear a thing, but the scent was getting stronger, Zin was sure.
Led by his nose, Zin had arrived at a small column of stones. Over....? Zin contemplated, Or around... ? He glanced up, and then sideways. Over, he decided, over was definitely the way to go. Every since he was young, Zin had had a thing for climbing, and tonight he did climb, hopping from one stone to the next. It wasn't a high mound, and Zin started to get careless, just letting his feet do the work for him. And suddenly, the world slipped away. One of Zin's footings hadn't been good and he had slipped, head first down the other side of the mound.
Laying on the cold grassy earth, Zin inhaled a big lungful of air. "Great," he muttered, "that was stupid." He felt around for broken bones, and to his relief, found none. "Well, get up, you idiot," He scolded himself, at which he prompted rolled to one side and bumped into something. Something warm and fuzzy; something alive...
((ok, thanks for the heads up. ^^))
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:02 pm
Every fur on her body bristled at the sound of the pup's stumble. She jerked her body as if to bolt away, but her legs wouldn't follow her commands. She could only cower in the darkness.
Yes... it was alive. She could see him. She was completely paralyzed with terror, her breath caught in her throat as she watched the move of each hair on his body.
The sudden touch broke her spell. All the adrenaline built up into her system unleashed into an instinctive lunge, her mouth wide and snapping at the creature, claws close behind.
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Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:17 pm
"AHHH!" Zin had just enough time to put up his paws before the rabid creature attacked him with teeth and claws. A ball of fur had lurched at him, and in the darkness of the night, Zin could not even be sure how big the thing was.
Still cowered behind raised paws and laying on his back, the hyena pup kicked out with his hind legs. Once. Twice. He kept kicking in a frenzy, not even sure if his blows were finding its target. Whatever creature had attacked him, Zin was not going to let it get any closer.
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Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 11:27 pm
The first set of kicks missed the pup to one side, but the second caught her squarely in the jaw. With a gargled yelp she fell backwards and scrambled to her feet, loping several yards away before glancing back, panic in her eyes. What was that thing? Would it give chase? She was shaking and near emotional exaustion, but if she needed to run.... well, she would try.
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Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 7:37 am
Peeking out from behind his paws, Zin saw that whatever had attacked him was now gone. With a sigh of relief the hyena pup stopped his kicking and let his numb legs fall to the groups. Lying their on his back, Zin took a precious second to stare into the open dark sky before rolling up onto his feet. The preceding events had tired him quite a bit, after all, and the pup was now suddenly craving for sleep.
Glancing into afar, he eyes slowly fell upon his attacker. A small silhouette was there off in the distance, staring back at him. Zin couldn't be sure who it was, probably no one he had met before, but detected the distinct air of panic about the creature. Unsure of what to do, Zin did what he did best: copycating. So the hyena pup stood there and looked back at the stranger as it was looking at him. Waiting.
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:10 pm
Her breath came in faint, shaking clouds as she panted into the cool night air, staring at the slight movements of the shadow that had attacked her. It seemed to suddenly grow as it stood, and her heart stopped cold. But then... was that it? Such a small creature?
Confused, she swiveled her ears toward the creature, listening intently. After an agonizing moment of waiting, she turned to face it fully. Hesitantly she took a step foreward, then quickly several steps back as fear dashed her curiosity. She shuffled uncertainly, then finally issued a sharp bark toward the other creature, intended as a warning but filled with more confusion than confidence.
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:29 pm
In the peaceful silence of the night Zin watched the creature. It was, as the pup began to notice for the first time, about the same size as him. Good, he thought silently, so it's not a big monster. He watched it intently, and after a moment it began to move.
It moved once forward, and once back. Then, to the two both sides, as if engaging in a dance. A sharp bark concluded the series of peculiar events, events that left Zin baffled. What was it doing? He didn't know. Was it engaging in some kind of ritual? Was it cursing him? Zin's youthful mind began turning, and after a moment of indecision, the hyena pup hopped forward hesitantly.
He hopped forward, then twice back. The 'dance' followed. Zin moved from side the side, trying his best to imitate what the other creature had been doing. And the sharp bark followed, slicing through the silence of the night. Feeling a lightness washing over him, Zin gave a light laugh, one characteristic of Hyenas. It was hard to believe, but he was joyful, having just engaged in the strange and peculiar ritual in the dead of the night.
He finished, and stared back at the creature, watching for how it would respond.
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Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:08 pm
What was it... she couldn't believe her eyes. Although her sensitive ears told her what the saw was true. She was.. simply dumbstruck by this display. What sort of ghost or ghoul haunted the savannah nights, imitating lost souls for the purpose of... well, she could only speculate. The phantom mimic imitated her, but added the characteristic laugh of her species. So. It clearly knew more about her then she had revealed.
But perhaps this was no blood thirsty demon of the night, but a simpler imp, preying on weak-minded pups or simpler creatures. Panic quelled with a bit of arrogant confidence sneaking into her heart. She would play this doppleganger's game, and win at it too.
She repeated the foreward and backward step, following again with a bark and her own haunting hyena laugh. She swallowed her remaining uneasiness and walked foreward several yards, until there was perhaps twenty feet between her and the spector.
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Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:20 am
Zin could only stare in disbelieve as the shadow enveloped stranger proceeded to imitate him imitating her. Wide eyed and mystified, the pup watched the shadow dance in the night. She was an even better imitator than him, copying his moves precisely and without hesitation. The ending laugh told Zin that the other was a hyena too. Another hyena? Now it has got Zin's full, undivided attention. He rarely met hyenas on his travels, let along such a small one.
You might be wondering what the shadow's imitation meant to Zin. Well, some how in his childlike mind, the gesture translated into, 'come and play!' Yep, you heard right. When Zin had imitiated the copycatting, he was essentially asking for permission to approach, and the shadow's response was 'yes!' as far as Zin could tell.
Truthfully, no one Zin had ever met before had responded to his copycat ways. This little shadow was the first time. And armed with the youthful air of headstrongness and excitement, Zin bounded forward, straight for the mysterious shadow.
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Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:41 pm
Her confidence began to ebb as the fiend bounded toward her. Had she made the wrong move? Or was this still part of the trap? With no time to think and the creature bounding toward her, she had to decide what to do, now. She raced foreward directly at the doppleganger, but at the last second she lept atop a rock to her left, and then made a second leap over the head of the other pup, so close her back paw lightly touched his ear. But as she sailed over him, she got her first good look at the Phantom of the Night. He wasn't pure black as she had thought, nor was his fur the same color as hers, as she had also suspected. No, he was black and white, with markings unlike she'd ever seen before. And his eyes were not blood red or glowing like in those stories she'd been told... no, he seemed like... a living animal. A normal animal. A hyena pup.
So distracting was this new information that she forgot to land, and instead plowed face-first into the dirt, skidding for a moment and comming to a stop against a tuft of grass. Dazed, she lay splayed on her belly.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:40 am
Zin watched this whole display of acrobatics in silence, as the other figure lept high up into the air and, pulled by gravity, back down to earth - none too gracefully either, as Zin carefully noted. He'll have to learn to do that later, the pup decided, and made a little note of it in the back of his mind. But now... there were more important things to do.
The black and white hyena pup bounded over to the slump on the grass, eyeing it cautiously as he drew near and near. The thing was definitely alive, as its chest was moving up and down in the silence of the night; it wasn't moving thought, and the pup wondered vagued whether it had been hurt. As Zin neared ever closer, it was clear for the first time that the other was also a hyena pup like him. It was a her, actually, as a sniff of her lingering scent in the air told him.
So the imitator ebbed closer to the original. "Hello...." he whispered, sniffing at her (although keeping his snout back this time, for the pup had learned his lesson the last time around).
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