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 Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 11:41 pm
Constant. Constant waiting, constant fear, constant hope. What else is constant in her life? Plenty more she'd rather not mention only for the fact that it's out of her hands. Erm...paws. What were hands, anyway? She's forgotten what it feels like, to grasp onto something with the fingers, to twist a knob, catch something that's falling. Maybe...maybe this time, she'll open her eyes, and it'll be different. Yes. When she wakes up she'll have to go out and hunt fresh game. Shake the dew out of her sibling's pelts, rouse them from their slumber. In the darkness of her room, lavender slits peel open to reveal her oculars. No. Nothing's different, nothing's changed. She's still in this metal box. No sunlight greets her, nothing ever does when she wakes up. It's just metal and cogs, gears and coils. Pan sits up and glances over to, not a massive and colorful fur pile of her clan, but a shredded blanket. In her sleep the Ukami's dreams will somtimes lead her to believe she's attacking something. Oh dear. She better hide that. The minty Ukami tucks the rags down into the crevice between her bed and the wall. An entire mound of torn blanket matter has been building up. Thankfully her meager pay gives her enough to buy a new blanket every few weeks she may need it.
As a guard dog for the lab she's been granted her very own small room down in the lab basement. Pointless since she can easily sleep outside, yes, but she's grateful for it nonetheless. She can hide in here and nap as she pleases. So long as the other guards are on watch. Best of all her room connects to her employer's room. Speaking of, he should be waking up around now. To make her breakfast of course. Rising from the firm bed she initiates a good whole body shake, getting the blood flow going to get her out of her groggy stage of waking up. Pan leaps off of the bed with fluid grace, fur rippling and pom tail arching regally. She trots towards a far wall and presses her head against the metal flap leading into a curved tunnel that'll end with another small door to Aiden's room.
Aiden was the first friendly interaction Pan had after being wrenched from her now long gone home planet. He helped socialize her with the staff. This has made her job easier. Pan recognizes the scientists and students by their lab coats and sterile scent. Her fellow guards she easily knows, spending time around them. If there's an unauthorized person in the area she deals with them accordingly. As well as any escaped experiment or specimen. Now onto the man's bed she has begun whining and pawing at his shoulder. This was repeated until Aiden finally got up. Here at the lab are many all nighters. Many of the staff have spare rooms for staying overnight. It's only her second month here and Pan of course has been manipulating Aiden to spend the night at the labs. She's starting to get attached to him. Ukami are scarce now and most have been shipped off for military purposes. Pan was saved from that when Aiden saw her curled up weeks ago at a military base. As the scientist walks out of the spare room the emerald Ukami takes an impressive leap to perch on his shoulder.
They're going out for a short time to buy some extra food for the day. Pan is to undertake some sort of training. Meaning she'll need plenty of snacks to keep her from going berserk and trying to maim anything nearby. Ukami have frightening appetites. The city is encased in a highly advanced, protective film with guards petering around in slim shuttles out in orbit. She often dreams of making her way out of this city, but knows her place is now at the lab. Being taken to a shop with an artificial greenhouse in the back Pan is offered an apple while Aiden lights up a smoke, walking away to chatter with another human. Trying to ignore his smoking, her nose is so sensitive to it, Pan ensnares the red fruit in her front legs. Perched upon a steel counter outside the fluffy lupine glances around warily while her jaws gnaw against the glossy surface, until the crimson skin crinkles and she begins to devour the creamy meat of the apple. She crunches away, merrily guzzling down the sweet nectar and starting her charming little growling sound. Leaning her chest against the apple she continues to bite into it savagely as her pom-pom tail swirls behind her draped haunches. The Ukami hopes to store plenty of energy for today.
There have been rumors of the government sending spies around, immigrants hopping from city to city as each city you need a passport from said government specifically for that city to enter it. All a bunch of trouble. Pan considers herself lucky to be alive and thriving as it were. Then again she still has an issue of...adjusting to others. A few figures walk along the spotless paths looping around the city. The Ukami stares luridly with lavender eyes as one of them gets too close, tail arching and teeth extending into protruding fangs. A single warning.
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Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 11:03 am
The heat of the city had always bothered Alex, and the oversized coat he was wearing didn't help. He could feel his fur becoming soggy and clumped up beneath the stiff material. As usual, the heat wave over the past few days was putting him in a bad mood. All day long he had wandered aimlessly through the city. He stopped every so often at dingy restaurants to get a drink and avoid dehydration. He hadn't eaten yet today, but he was starving. Day after day he lived like this, with no real goals or dreams. He was a slave to his own immediate desires. He lived only to satisfy the needs of the moment, and the future rarely entered his mind.
Alex walked briskly, as if he was in a hurry. But he had nowhere to go. He hadn't had a place to go for over 8 years, now. This city had been his home for a year. But in his mind, it was no home. It was a prison. He disliked the daylight and waited for the stars to come out. During the day, the other creatures rushed around and frantically went about their business. Most of them lived to work, spent most of their waking hours wasting their lives on meaningless tasks. But at night, the annoying creatures would go away. And the streets belonged to Alex, and the other creatures brave enough to face the darkness.
Every night Alex looked forward to the stars coming out. He would stare at them longingly and dream of somewhere better than the city. He knew that somewhere out there, there was a place that would be a home, not a prison. He would spend hours laying on his back, watching the spaceships float by and dreaming strange dreams. Alex was fascinated with the spaceships - Huge clumps of metal welded together, resilient enough to survive in the vacuum of space. These machines were fit for a god, but they were crafted by the pathetic creatures that annoyed him every day... He longed to board one of those ships one day and leave this planet behind forever.
Unlike a lot of the Ukami, Alex had a fascination with technology. He longed to soar away on a spaceship. As a child at the base, he envied the humans who got to work with the gigantic supercomputers. Many of the people of his race disliked spaceships, because they were the things that dragged them away from their beloved homeworld. But Alex had never seen the homeworld. He didn't have any fond memories of roaming the wilds, or having a loving group of brothers and sisters to come home to. His earliest memories were miserable, and for as long as he could remember, he just longed to fly away.
Someday he would get away from this place and reach the stars. He would leave behind the city, with all its ugly skyscrapers and foul smog. He hated the oppressive government, and their efforts to control the people disgusted him. In his life, he had no freedom. The government treated the citizens of this world like children. People weren't even allowed to travel from city to city without passports, and Alex sure as hell wasn't able to get a passport. He had been living with a fake ID and a made-up name for the past 8 years. Before he came to this city, he had lived in three other ones like it. He was clever enough to sneak around in the shadows, using the darkness as cover. He slowly made his way from one city to another, sticking to the dark places where other creatures were too afraid to go. His night-vision was excellent, and he could make his way through all but the blackest of nights.
Alex walked briskly through the streets of the city he hated so much, lost in thought. He stared at the ground as he walked, looking up only once in a while. Every face he saw was unfamliar and unfriendly. He continued to move along at the same pace, and everyone ignored him. Until ... His ear twitched involuntary, and some strange sense came to life. It warned him, made his thoughts race frantically. It was a threat from a powerful creature that could actually harm him - Unlike the majority of the pathetic people on this world.
He glanced to his right with fear in his eyes, and was instantly relieved. It was a false alarm... It was just a tiny green creature, almost small enough to fit in his pocket. He breathed a sigh of relief and scowled at the little wolf, returning the gesture. He bared his fangs at her in a threatening way, because he just had to get the "last word" in. Then he turned away and continued to walk along, until suddenly, he had a strange thought ... Something possessed him to turn around and look at the little green creature again. He was mesmerized by her. He kept his distance but stared at her intently. Alex was fascinated. It wasn't very often that he found another creature around here that looked like him.
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Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 1:30 pm
The male is obviously a fellow Ukami and he seems to not heed nor mind her warning, only showing his teeth in reply, trying to initiate a fight. Ukami are highly sensitive to body language. As such the clans were careful to pay attention to another's movements and expressions. They hardly needed a language in the wild and instead went by signing to each other. Usually by their bodies or even scents. Even as the male walked away Pan held her ground, now vexed. It was an insult clearly. While docile around strangers she is firm around fellow Ukami and wants to keep away from her own kind for the most part. Pan would rather not be reminded of what once was. All around the chrome city there is noise. Humans, floating vehicles, the homeless, metallic crafts and even the air vents churning the polluted airs. Everything seems to become dull as the male turns around now to stare at her. Pan only opens her jaws wider, pom tail bristling to a fluffy ball of ire. As this trespasser continues to stare the tiny she-wolf feels her anxiety sky rocketing. Brief images flash in her mind. Eyes all around her and she in some damned little cage forcing her to remain in her smallest form. Unable to produce a sound she wags her tail but not in a friendly gesture.
Pan takes a running start to bound off of the table top meant to display goods for that day. Before her paws hit the ground well below her stumped figure, four legs slam to the ground with bone-rattling force. The cute creature becomes a beast in the blink of an eye. She's honed this skill since birth, it comes quite easily and naturally to her here in captivity as it did in the wild world of her home planet. Spikes protrude from her shoulders and haunches as protective scales line her belly. For the Ukami no known bullet has been able to pierce their few scales. A pair of fangs shove from her upper lip to curl down towards her chin as the minty fae continues to charge at the red male. Tail arched over her back in a display of dominance the roused female continues to show her teeth, digging her claws into the ground to stop plundering toward him. Now an arm's length away her hot breath puffs against his face. Eyes slitted in sheer disapproval she snaps at his chest to further initiate this offense. Unable to produce noise she cannot utter that signature war roar among the Ukami. Looming over the male the beast drools in her state of agitation.
After buying a few supplies Aiden has exited the shop. Looking to the display he frowned to see an unfinished apple. Strange. Pan always finishes her food and always throws away her garbage. It doesn't take long for him to notice the behemoth Ukami quaking with silent rage at someone in the street. "Pan! Pan, calm down..." the slender man rushes over and runs his hand along the green Ukami's shoulder to start to settle her down. He briskly rubs at her horned snout and offers her some dried meat he had purchased. Pan slowly closes her mouth and sniffs at the offering. Glaring a final time at the offending cinnamon Ukami she shrinks into her harmless form. Now at her employer's feet she chews on the dried meat, back turned to the red male, sulking with her snack. Aiden sighs softly and smiles carefully at the humanoid before him. "My apologies, she's usually not violent...I think the sight of another Ukami startled her. Are you alright?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 10:48 pm
Suddenly he doesn't feel so cocky anymore. He gulps and tries to back up a bit, but realizes that his leg is frozen with fear. How inconvenient. Feeling rather helpless, he gives in to a bad habit. Many years spent wandering alone has led Alex to develop a rather strange habit - Talking to himself. And since his body isn't cooperating at the moment, he begins to mutter under his breath in desperation.
"T-This is just my luck. Why do things like this always have to happen to me?" He twitches nervously, staring up at the beast. He felt like a moron for letting his guard down like this. "I knew it! I knew today was going to be a bad day!" His voice was getting more frantic, now. His muttering was quickly becoming loud and desperate.
It doesn't occur to him that the situation probably looks very funny to the people passing by on the streets. Surprisingly, no one looks very interested. One woman turns her head in brief interest, but giggles to herself and continues to walk on. No one really acknowledges the odd scenario that is unfolding in plain sight. All the others are too wrapped up in their own business. They have places to go, people to see. And naturally, they're used to seeing odd things on these streets. Most of them probably figure that it's just another mugging, or some hoodlums getting into a fight.
He has been away from the other Ukami for so long that he has grown to underestimate them. He knew then and there that if this creature wanted to kill him, then he was doomed. His life was in her hands. All he could do was quiver helplessly and hope that she backed down.
His hands are twitching badly as he stands in the shadow of the angry wolf. His tail sways back and forth nervously, and he clenches his teeth. But suddenly, he is filled with anger. He doesn't feel like being pushed around. If he was going to die, it wasn't going to be as a coward. (Although he pretty much already blew his chance at that).
"Oh, don't even bother!" A growl is forming deep in his throat. He tries to hold it in, to avoid provoking her more. But it slips out anyway. "If you're going to kill me, do it already! Don't just stand there and stare!" His voice doesn't sound as weak as before. Fear still shows in his eyes, but he forces himself to try to be strong. She looms over him in such a threatening way that he can feel his hair beginning to stand on end.
He was angry at her, and angry at himself for getting in this situation. There was nowhere to run, and it was time to face his fear. And just as he braced himself for what seemed like an inevitable attack...
...Help had finally arrived. What a relief. His fear quickly turns to amusement as he sees the beast revert to her original form. A moment ago his mind was filled with thoughts of impending doom, but now he is overwhelmed with jealousy as he watches her chomp down the delicious meat. Alex breathes a sigh of relief and barely gives the man a second glance. He stares at the meat for a moment until she finally turns away. "Yeah. I'm fine." It seems like his voice has lost all emotion, now. He doesn't look at the man when he talks to him. Instead, he stares at a crowd in the distance.
His knees feel like they're going to give out at any second. "Uh, I'm just going to sit down." Collapsing onto a nearby bench, he has a scowl on his face. Inside, he feels embarrassed. The panic still lingers in his mind and in his blood. Alex is badly shaken. "You should watch her better, okay? She's going to hurt someone." His tone has a hint of disgust to it. He doesn't acknowledge the fact that he provoked her, figuring that it will be relatively easy to make her out as the villain here.
Finally, he turns his head to make eye contact with the man before him. "Why do you let her sit around on the streets alone like that? She's going to kill somebody." He decides that he probably shouldn't mention how he got her upset with the aggressive gestures. It's just a little white lie, right? And he figures that this guy is never going to know.
"Oh, by the way... Got any more of that meat?"
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