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| Man or Monster? |
| Human |
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16% |
[ 1 ] |
| Beast |
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[ 2 ] |
| Poll-Creature |
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50% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 6 |
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 Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:27 pm
Xeron looked at the small opening, sure he could fit, but knowing he would have to basically do it on hands and knees, backpack off.
"Thank-you," he said to the fox and took off his pack for a moment, before rewarding the little creature with the rabbit he had caught earlier in the day. Zeck still had the more recent catch.
"I'm Xeron," the human introduced himself, before asking: "do you have a name, or should I just call you 'kid?'"
Xero kept an eye upward though. There was still a good amount of time before sunset. Enough to try to possibly bag one more rabbit; they could use all of the extra food they could get before autumn chills turned into a wasteland of winter snow. "I'll be back in a bit," the human said, picking up his pack again, before adding: "to try and get some more rabbits."
He didn't want to bother Zeck; the poor wolf had looked tired enough.
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 12:33 pm
Mikco smiled happily and took the rabbit. THen he sat down on the spot and started to eat it. When asked for a name he looked up. "I'm Mikco. Nice ta meet cha Xeron," he said. THen he went back to eating. He shifted to his fox form to better eat the rabbit when Xeron said he was going hunting. He looked up again and wagged his tail in farewell. Then his attention went back to the meet.
At that announcement Zeck's voice could be heard from inside the cave. "Xeron, if you get into any trouble call my name. Also try not to run through any water," he said. Then he put his head down and fell asleep a few minutes later.
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 12:55 pm
Xeron turned at the reply that drifted out of the cave from Zeck, pausing. With a nod in agreement, even if the wolf couldn't see it, Xero then went forward, hoping to at least catch a rabbit or two. Watching Micko eat his food in the way he was wasn't exactly something he wanted to see either. They couldn't hope that every day would have good hunting, so it would be good to preplan and get what he could now when they had a safe place to camp out that night.
Walking a bit of a distance from the fox's den, but not to far, he crept around as quietly as he could, trying to keep close to cover and looking for rabbits in a down wind direction. Eventually he climbed a tree, only going half-way up, so he could get a bit of an aerial view.
So there he sat for what seemed like a long time, a still as he could manage to be without cutting off circulation to his legs or arms as he perched there, and scanned the area again and again for the tell-tale movements of what could possibly be food.
Eventually, his waiting paid off. Two rabbits came cautiously into view, both sniffing and slowly hopping around, close to the bushes themselves and nibbling on blades of grass. Silently, Xero readied his gun, carefully taking aim and waiting for a moment when both rabbits were far from where they'd poped up from, and fired. Two shots went off seconds after on another, and one rabbit was dead while the second only had time to flinch, about to bolt, when it too was food.
With a small sigh, Xero relaxed and was about to climb back down the tree, when he heard the smallest sound.
A scratch of a claw on bark.
Reacting without thought, jumping from his perch, was probably what saved him. Landing roughly on his feet, rolling so that he didn't break them, he turned, only to see a light-brown reptilian face, wings beginning to unfurl, and back legs pushing it off of the tree at the human.
It was a small dragon, barely a few decades old, but the size of a large dog and more than adequate enough to tear out Xeron's throat with it's long, sharp fangs. Xeron turned, gun still in hand, and let another bullet fly. He only had three left, as his revolver only held six bullets at a time.
The shot only nicked the dragon as it came at him, tearing a hole in one wing, but the second shot was already tearing it's way into one of the dragon's shoulders.
The beast screamed in pain and anger, not death, and still had enough momentum to keep on coming, maw wide open, while Xeron opened his own mouth, screaming the name of the wolf he barely knew, and fired off his last shot before the animal slammed into him, the two falling to the ground and Xero's head hitting something hard and unknown before everything went dark.
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 1:35 pm
Xeron's scream jarred Zeck awake. In wolf form he shot out of the cave, wound forgotten, and ran for the source of the sound. He had heard the dragon's scream, as had the fox who had darted into his cave with his rabbit and cowered at the very back. Zeck had ignored the beast's cry. When he caught the scent of blood he ran that much faster and followed Xeron's scent trail, glad he had stayed near by.
The wolf's brain took in the scene in flashes. He launched himself at the dragon when he realized the till form beneath it was Xero. It was a bloody fight, with most of the blood coming from Zeck. There were only a few places on the dragon's body where the wolf could sink his teeth into the dragon's flesh. Eventually he won, but only because the dragon spotted the rabbits and decided to go for eaiser prey. Both the two rabbits and the dragon disappeared into the forest.
Panting Zeck listened and smelled the air before he went to Xeron's side. He poked him with his nose. He could hear the boy's heart beat so he knew he was still alive. He started licking the human's face in the hope it would rouse him.
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Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 1:44 pm
Feeling something slimy and warm on his face, a sharp contrast to the dry, chill autumn air, Xeron slowly came to consciousness. At first the world seemed to be blurry and unfocused. The human's head pounded horribly and he groaned, one hand going up to his skull. On the way down he'd hit a rock, but luckily he wasn't bleeding and it seemed that he'd only gotten knocked out.
Hesitantly sitting up straight, still holding his hurting head and blinking as he tried to bring the world into focus, he looked at Zeck, for a moment seeing double. "Zeck ..." Xeron wasn't going to try to stand; sitting up had already made him slightly nauseous. There had been a dragon ... "Dragon?" he asked the wolf, wondering what exactly had happened.
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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:26 am
Zeck pulled back and watched Xeron closely as he woke up. He had several new wounds that were going to make traveling impossible for him. He had already lost a lot of blood and now a dragon knew the taste of it. That was a dangerous thing in itself. He laid down by the human’s side and looked at him.
“Yes there was a dragon. You are lucky I could hear your gun shots and cries. Unfortunatly others probably did as well. We need to move, now,” he said. He hoisted himself to his feet and limped closer to Xeron. He tugged the boy’s shirt with him mouth indicating he needed to get up. The wolf hoped the boy could stand and walk on his own because he was in no position to carry him.
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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:41 am
Xeron slowly stood, a bit unbalanced but at least able to stand up straight. He saw the wolf's wounds and silently cursed the dragon, and partially himself, for causing the damage. As it was he began making his way back to the fox's den, hoping the slightly drunken tilt to his walk would dissipate after his head had some time to heal up. It looked like they wouldn't be able to travel anywhere very soon anyway; which was very bad. But at least they had a place to stay ...
Hopefully none of the wolf's wounds would get infected; as long as they moved on before thr first real snow fall things should be fine ...
"I'm sorry Zeck ..." the human sighed. All that damage and no food to show for it.
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Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:43 am
Zeck sighed. He winced as he walked. "It's fine. Two days sleep should and I should be ready to go again," he said. His kind had developed a way to heal from serious injuries easily, but it left one virtually defenseless. It was because of this that most only used it when they were in trouble or they had a pack to protect them. Zeck wasn't in trouble, but he could be if he bled any more. He stopped in his tracks and growled softly to himself. He looked behind him and growled again. To those who knew how to track he was leaving a nice trail of blood.
He looked up at Xeron. "Sleep with your gun ready to go. I'm leaving a trail of blood. We could have trouble," he said. He started walking again. When they arrived at the den, Zeck went inside immediatly. He curled up against a wall and went into an almost comatose sleep.
The fox looked at Zeck curiously and then went outside to Xeron. "What happened?" he asked. He sniffed Xeron. Both he and Zeck smelled like dragon.
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Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 7:40 am
Xero looked at the fox and sighed, rubbing the large bump on the back of his head while explaining. The human reloaded his gun after giving the information, settling by the den entrance to guard it and to keep an eye open for any approaching predators. Because the den opening was at his back, all he had to worry about was looking outward and up for enemies, fully loaded gun in hand.
In the back of his mind he remembered something an older man had said once, "Don't go ta sleep right after a bad knock to the head; half the time I've seen people walkin around fine after getting smacked to the skull go ta sleep and just never wake up again." Xeron gulped to himself, aiming on guarding as long as he could stay conscious, which was usually around anywhere from a day and a half to three days, depending on his condition. "You might want to stay inside," Xero told the fox, "because of the blood trail things are probably going to be prowling about more than usual ..."
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Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:30 pm
Mikco's face paled till it was ghost white when Xeron said there was a blood trail leading to his den. He gulped. "Get to the back of the cave with Zeck and stay there. I have to clean up the trail!" he said. He dashed out and started immediatly. He licked each drop of Zeck's blood he could find from plants, trees, and the ground. It was more dangerous to let the trail lay than to clean it up. THere were creatures who would find getting into the fox's den if it was made known to them. He would have to move and make a new den far away if his home was discovered. If he survived the discovery.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 5:25 am
Xeron blinked at the fox but nodded, going into the den and finding his way in the dark to the back, hearing Zeck's breathing as he moved before sitting against the back wall, gingerly probing the back of his head with careful fingers, gun held securely in the other hand. Well I've got one hell of a goose egg ... Xero winced as he lightly touched the bump, the wound throbbing even now. I just hope Milco can clean up the trail well enough ...
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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 1:14 pm
Mikco returned a few hours later. He was exhausted. He had lapped up each and every drop of blood from the trail. He stumbled back into his den in fox form and curled up near Xeron. The tucker out fox soon fell fast asleep.
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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 1:25 pm
Xeron jumped when Mikco came back, gun ready, but only sighed when he saw the familiar shape of the fox. He gently pet the smaller animal, still watching the entrance/exit, the soul guard while the two other exhausted creatures got their strength back.
The human had a long, event-less wait while night fell, doing countless things to stay awake. There was only one scare during the night, where Xero thought he heard something sniffing about outside. Whatever it was left though, the den undiscovered. By dawn, however, Xeron was nodding where he sat, exhaustion creeping up on him along with the dull throbbing from the back of his head.
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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 1:59 pm
Mikco woke up a few hours after dawn. He yawned widely, flashing sharp fangs, while he stretched like a cat. he looked up at Xeron and crawled into his lap before licking his cheek. He whined softly, concern in his eyes when he saw how tired Xeron was. He didn't understand why he hadn't slept.
Zeck's injuries were well on their way to healing. It helped he hadn't picked up an infection before he went into his healing sleep. When he woke up he planned on going hunting.
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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 2:16 pm
Seeing that the fox was awake, Xero gave the other a small smile before sighing, leaning back against the wall. Well ... I shoud've been awake long enough that sleeping won't be bad for my head injury at this point ... the human thought dully, before saying to Micko:
"Wake me up if anything bad seems to be prowling around, okay?" the words tired and a bit whispered, but Xero laid down using his pack as a pillow, gun left in hand. The human was quickly unconscious, hard traveling and unsafe surroundings having worn him out along with his injury.
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