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 Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:07 pm
Hunting had been good at the start of the rains, but game was growing scarcer. Lilah plodded along beside the river, following it south. If you followed a river you always ended up somewhere. Might even be a better somewhere, though that seemed unlikely in the wasteland. A roll of thunder boomed out overhead, echoing across the grasslands. The young hyena sighed, her head hanging low. It seemed that the rains had been following her, driving away all the good game and making the ground soggy. The soft ground took impressions well, but prints were washed away instantly by the continous storms. It was impossible to track food by scent either. The heavy smell of water and mud covered up the scent.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:41 pm
A myriad of emotions swirled within the fallen queen as she wandered aimlessly. Pain, anger, sorrow at her loss and her inability to prevent it. All she did was stand by and watch her clan slowly fall, because that was all she could have done. She was a mere predator--what precautions could she have taken against disease? That was an enemy she couldn't fight off with teeth and claws, and it galled her to no end. And yet through it all, the merest hints of joy and freedom peeked through as if ashamed to show themselves; it had been so long since she had been on her own, that she didn't have to worry about anyone but herself. She fought these feelings down ruthlessly. She didn't deserve them.
Jioni was tired of it all. Tired of the pain she'd endured these past months, tired of wondering where it had all gone wrong, tired of wondering what she had done to deserve this. Did nature hate her so much that it would take innocent lives just to spite her? As her head dipped down to drink from the rain-swollen river, she decided it must be so; why else would she be made to suffer like this?
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 11:46 am
Lost in her own gloomy thoughts, it took a while for Lilah to notice the stranger before her. She halted, studying the older hyena thoughtfully. The stranger was as dark as Lilah herself, though spotted where Lilah's hide bore strange patterns. Lilah considered. The adult might be hostile, in which case it wouldn't be a good idea to approach her. On the other paw, maybe the older female had seen food on the hoof passing through.
It wasn't any conscious decision that spurred Lilah onwards. The fact of the matter was that she was bored. Even a fight would mean a break in the monotony of the last days. The usually cautious hyena yipped a greeting as she made her slow way along the riverbank.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 6:02 pm
Ears ragged from battles long past twitched and swiveled towards the youth's greeting. She instinctively looked up, mentally bracing herself for the disappointment she knew she would feel when there was nothing where there should be something. She had been hearing such familiar sounds for longer than she cared to remember, once-friendly voices echoing in her mind. They were slowly driving her mad. If Lilah cared to look close enough, she'd be able to see it in her eyes.
The whelp was black, and the sky was black, and all she could see was black. Black, the color of death; black, the color of her own pelt. Now a hated color, one that reminded her of loss and pain and suffering. The whelp was black and a horrid reminder. Was this another ghost, come to taunt her? Had they grown so bold as to show themselves? Jioni flattened her ears and bared her teeth, emitting a low growl.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:59 pm
Startled by the stranger's aggressive greeting, Lilah halted once more. Should she flee? Yes, that would be the most sensible thing to do. The stranger was older than her and quite a bit larger. Her black pelt bore the marks of many battles. But something about the dreary, endless rain had changed Lilah's spirit. She was a cautious and practical hyena, but difficult to frighten even in ordinary times. And these weren't ordinary times. Lilah couldn't have put her strange mood into words, but it was there. Oh, it was there, and it was affecting her strongly.
Instead of beating a hasty retreat, Lilah returned the growl. If the stranger attacked, she might back down, but she wouldn't just take this insult. Lilah was trespassing on no pack's lands. She had not offended the stranger in any way. To threaten Lilah like that was rude. And Lilah hated rudeness.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:54 pm
Jioni snarled loudly, hackles raised and teeth bared. What did this black stranger want? Had she come to finish what the plague started in killing her clan? Was it her turn now? Thoughts swirled like the rushing river below. Would it have been so bad a thing for this strange whelp to kill her? What did she have left to live for, anyway? Had her will been weaker, she would have eagerly submitted to whatever Fate had in store for her. But she was a Queen, with the indomitable spirit of one; she would not succumb to anyone or anything. Not without a fight.
"Was my clan not enough? Do you seek to take me too? You WILL NOT have me, death-whelp; leave while you can!" Delirium deformed Lilah's shape into something other than a hyena; in Jioni's eyes, she was a spectre, with the swirling colors of her pelt appearing as tortured, silently-wailing spirits.
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:29 pm
Lilah's growl died in her throat as the mad hyena's words registered. Death whelp? What could that possibly mean? Perhaps the stranger had mistaken Lilah for some other beast, possibly even a rogue. Lilah winced at the disturbing thought that the scruffy hyena before her might be a rogue. The stranger certainly seemed crazy enough to be one.
Hoping that it was all a case of mistaken identity, Lilah backed up a few paces and yipped loudly over the thunder. "Not a death whelp! Li-lah!" Her fear was growing steadily stronger, but her anger and indignation was hard on its heels. Lilah was no rogue or death-whelp!
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 5:27 pm
Lilah's yelp was overlaid by the rumbling thunder; to Jioni's shattered mind, it registered as a low growl, too unnatural a noise to come from a hyena. Her ears pinned back to her skull, angry fear swirling within her. The beast was driven back, but a mere few paces wouldn't do--no, Jioni wanted Lilah out of her sight, out of her mind. Dark, matted fur bristled as she stalked forwards, snarling and snapping.
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