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 Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:52 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:42 pm
Parthenos knew he could be a little absent minded sometimes. He was distracted easily, even by his own ability to make flowers grow around him. Which was what was happening now; humming as he concentrated on making a new flower bloom in front of him. He'd made a path of them from where Cygnus had left him to hunt food for himself, fascinated by the way delicate petals would peel away from themselves as they bloomed into a perfect little flower. At the very least, this path would lead Cygnus to his new location and neither of them would be lost. Cygnus was a good tracker, regardless, so the flowers would be a dead giveaway.
"Perfect." Parthenos grinned when the flower he was growing finished blooming, admiring the bright color and the fresh green of the stem and leaves. It really was beautiful; even more beautiful than the last one he had bloomed -- but he'd also been thinking that each time he grew a new flower. "If only I could concentrate enough to make a whole field of flowers bloom without having to wait so long." Now, that would be a pretty sight, flowers of all types and a rainbow of colors blossoming around him. He sighed dreamily just thinking of it. He'd never heard of a pixie being that powerful before, though, so it would likely only remain in his dreams. But that was okay; he was happy enough with what he could do now. He ran forward several feet and stopped, sniffing at the ground, and once he decided it was fertile enough he concentrated to grow another flower.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 8:56 pm
Unfortunately, the pixie's owl familiar wasn't the only one who could track the trail of flowers. Hellhound wrinkled her nose at the bright flower in front of her, sniffing it briefly before recoiling in disgust. It smelled horrible. She trampled on the flower with her paws, snarling angrily as though the flower's existence was a personal offence to her. It wasn't just the smell, either; the color was so bright. She couldn't explain why, but she knew how it made her feel to see them; hatred. She wanted to destroy all of them. Hellhound laughed to herself as she saw another bright flower not far from her, pouncing on it to tear it apart with unrestrained glee. Seeing those colorful petals crushed and muddied with dirt and snow made her feel much, much better. She did the same to the next one, and the next after that, tearing and stomping, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.
But as she followed the flowers, she began to pick up on a new smell. This one was much more welcome. Her stomach growled hungrily at the scent of flesh and blood, having been deprived of it for so long; she was still a foal, and certainly no one was willing to help her. Meat was difficult to come by -- for some reason, it always kept running away when she tried to eat it. Distracted by this new smell, she licked her chops and followed this new smell; the destruction of the flowers could wait until after she had her meal. She was so, so hungry.
The trail, as it turned out, led her to meat not that much larger than herself. It didn't look like the other meats she'd seen of that size before. She'd never seen an usdia, but regardless, Hellhound didn't care -- she never tried to find out the names of the meats she hunted. It smelled like meat and that was enough for her. She was salivating as she crouched down low, creeping up behind the meat's body to try and catch it by surprise. It didn't even suspect she was there! She bared her teeth in a snarl and then, quick as a shot, lunged forward and sank her teeth into the meat's thigh.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:11 pm
Parthenos cried out in shock, pain lancing up his hind leg and he quickly jerked his body away, whiling around to face his attacker. His eyes were side as the foal came into view, taking in the sight of her paws and the horrible pelt she was wearing over her body. Oh, no. Parthenos had heard about these beasts, but he'd never met one before -- he had really, really hoped to keep it that way. He could only count his blessings that it only appeared to be a foal attacking him. Maybe he stood a chance, then. If it was an adult, he knew he'd be dead by now. But... maybe the skinwalker's parents were around nearby. Did they travel in packs? The stories he'd heard were only every about encounters with singular skinwalkers... but surely they wouldn't just leave their foal wandering around alone, right? "Stay -- stay back!" he shouted, hoping to scare her away. She might be a foal, but Parthenos was a pixie; he knew very well that he wasn't that strong. "I'm not afraid to fight you!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:18 pm
Hellhound growled when the meat slipped away from her. Why did this always happen? Didn't they understand she wanted to eat them? She didn't know every word the meat was trying to tell her, but her ears did flick up when he said the word 'afraid.' She was familiar with that one; she'd heard it many times before. "No run!" she demanded, clawing at the ground in frustration. "No run, I eat!" There, maybe the meat would understand now. Meat wasn't supposed to run when she was hungry. When she wasn't, then it was okay for meat to run. Chasing them was fun. She stomped her front paws on the ground, crushing the flower Parthenos had been attempting to grow beneath them, and then charged again, snarling. She snapped her teeth when she was close enough, going for the nearest flesh she could find.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:26 pm
Oh... his flowers. Parthenos' heart sank a little as he saw the skinwalker destroy his flower, sadness gripping his heart. He didn't have long to mourn the flower, though, because the skinwalker was attacking him again. Parthenos yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards, trying to avoid those powerful looking jaws. Pain rushed through his body again when he put pressure on his injured hind leg, causing him to trip and fall to the ground. At least the move meant that the skinwalker's teeth missed him, but now the beast was on top of him. She didn't move at first, not realizing what had happened, but she quickly regained herself and latched her teeth onto his shoulder. Tears stung Parthenos' eyes at the pain and he struck out with his hooves, the only weapon he really had, kicking and struggling until he knocked the skinwalker off of him. He rolled over and stood back up on trembling legs, hoping Cygnus would find him soon. Maybe he could help. Somehow. Cygnus was smaller than he was, but there had to be a way.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:57 pm
It hadn't worked. Hellhound was starting to think meat would always try to run. How was she supposed to eat when it was so hard to get the meat she wanted? She'd been lucky enough to be able to kill smaller meats than this one, some with long ears and big feet and others with long, fluffy tails, but she figured this one was small too. It should be easy. This meat had hurt her, too. She hated when meat did that more than when they ran. Her side felt bruised and sore, but Hellhound felt she still had the upper paw in this fight. She could see blood coming out of the meat in the places where she'd sunk her teeth and claws into, and she wasn't bleeding at all. This time when she charged at the meat, it jumped out of the way and fell to the ground again. She lowered her head and rammed into it's stomach with her stubby horns, not tearing any flesh but at least knocking the wind out of it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 11:24 pm
~Elsewhere~
Tarashikomi was enjoying the peace and quiet in the field, munching on grass that still had morning dew clinging to them, bringing with it a refreshing, cool taste. Her mother had been still asleep at the place they'd spent the night, but Haboku was awake so she felt comfortable leaving her with the fox to explore a little and find some breakfast. Not that they'd run into any danger lately; their travels had been relatively peaceful thus far and Tarashikomi welcomed it. She was all for a good fight when it was needed, but she'd rather this; peace, and no one in danger of being hurt or worse. She sure could go for some warmer weather, though. At least winter would be coming to an end soon and most of the snow was already gone. Then it would be perfect.
Her belly full, Tarashikomi sighed happily and looked around the area. Alright, so maybe peace and quiet could be a little... boring. At least now that she was done eating, anyway. It was far too cold to even think about going swimming, and she wasn't too keen on the idea of shrinking and fluttering around right now, either. "What do you want to do now?" she asked, turning her head to look at Yamato-e. "I guess we could go back and see if mom's awake yet. What do you think?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 11:44 pm
"We could... or we could go explore some more," Yamato-e chirped, fluttering about Tarashikomi's head. "Come on, your mom won't be awake for at least another hour. Let's look around! What's the worst that could happen, huh? I mean, that we couldn't handle anyway." He landed on top of Tarashikomi's head between her ears, tugging at her mane with his beak gently in encouragement. "Pleeeease? I'm sure we could find something fun to do. I know that look on your face; you're bored too," he said smugly, knowing he was right. It was easy to convince Tarashikomi to do things when she had that look.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 11:55 pm
Tarashikomi rolled her eyes, but she was grinning anyway; it was hard to say no to logic like that. "You're a terrible influence on me, you know. I'm sure mom's thrilled that you're my envoy," she teased, shaking her head a little to jostle Yamato-e from his perch. She laughed at the indigent chirp that resulted in. "Hey, if we're going exploring, I'm not gonna carry your lazy butt everywhere. You have to fly! Exercise those wings of yours! You know if you don't you'll just end up too big too fly, and then what will you do?" Okay, well, if that actually happened Tarashikomi knows she would just carry him everywhere. He wasn't just her familiar and envoy, but her friend too. She'd never really leave him behind to fend for himself. It was still fun to tease and ruffle his feathers, though.
A flash of black and bring pink caught her eye, and she looked up to find an owl flying around in circles. The pink certainly meant it was spirit-touched. Was he looking for something -- or someone? He did look a little frantic, the circles uneven and moving around from spot to spot rapidly. The poor thing looked very distressed. "Hey there!" she called up to him, hoping he wasn't too high to hear her. "You okay? Something we could help with, maybe?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:03 am
Cygnus sighed. This wasn't the first time Parthenos had wandered off after he left him alone for a short time, and it certainly would be the last. He'd be a lot more annoyed about it, too, but... this time he couldn't find Parthenos. Anywhere. And now, he was starting to become very, very worried. It was harder to find mice to hunt in the winter and he'd taken longer to hunt down his breakfast, but surely he hadn't been gone that long, had he? It didn't make it any easier on him that it was daylight, but Parthenos was usually easy to spot regardless. Until now.
He gave a hoot of surprise when the soquili below him called out; he'd seen her but paid no mind. After all, what would a stranger have to say to him? He was relieved by her offer, though. Maybe having more eyes on the lookout would help him find Parthenos sooner, and from the looks of it, she had a little bird with her that could help too. He circled down to land, ruffling his feathers at his side in his nervousness. "I'm looking for my bonded. I had just gone to eat, and when I came back... and now I can't find him. He's an usdia, a pixie -- black with green stripes. Have you seen him anywhere?" he asked hopefully.
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:10 am
Tarashikomi frowned, sharing a concerned look with Yamato-e before she looked back at the owl. "I'm afraid not. There wasn't anyone else out here in the field when we got here. We could help you look, though," she offered, wanting to give the owl aid where she could. "Yamato-e can fly with you and I can take the ground so we can have eyes up in the air and down here. Do you remember where you last saw him before you left?" she asked. "That would probably be the best place to start." When the owl nodded and took off into the air again, Yamato-e flew up with him, and both he and Tarashikomi followed the owl as he lead them to the spot where the pixie was last seen. Not enough snow left to track footprints, unfortunately, but hopefully they would be able to find some clue as to where he went. "What's his name? He could be stuck somewhere, if we call out to him and he hears us we can follow his voice."
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:15 am
Cygnus had explored this area already, but maybe going over it again -- and with extra eyes -- could help him find something he'd missed before. "Parthenos. Usually it's easy to find him; he always wanders, but never this far..." he trailed off, thinking of Parthenos stuck in a hole somewhere, maybe with broken legs and unable to get out. He shuddered and pushed that thought out of his head. They would find him first, and then he could worry about whatever condition the pixie might be in. Stressing about how injured Parthenos could be was just a distraction right now.
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:23 am
"Parthenos!" Yamato-e shouted, flitting around the area. He was too small for his voice to carry that much, and he assumed the owl had already done this, but he would still try. There was always a chance it could work, and he didn't want to miss it. "Come out, come out wherever you are! You're making your familiar worried!" Maybe he'd just wandered and fallen asleep somewhere. He'd deserve a few pecks on the head for that, Yamato-e decided, be it from him or the owl, but it'd still be preferred over a variety of dangers the pixie could have run into. Why were soquili always getting into trouble?
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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:37 am
"Parthenos!"
Tarashikomi tried calling out his name too, her eyebrows drawn together in worry for the small pixie. There were no signs of a struggle, at least. No blood anywhere, no trail of crushed grass large enough to suggest his body had been dragged away. She hummed in thought, lowering her nose to the ground to try scenting him out, snuffling in the snow and grass as it tickled her nose. It would be a lot easier if she knew what he smelled like, but she'd just have to make do and seek out the fresher smelling ones. There were at least two scents, though -- one of them smelled young, like a foal. Could that be him? The owl didn't mention how old the pixie was. There was also a certain stench to it... like blood. Tarashikomi lifted her head and wrinkled her nose. That... wasn't good. Not at all. She turned around to call out to Yamato-e and the owl, but a flash of color caught her eye.
Flowers. She hadn't seen flowers anywhere else in the field; it was still too cold for them to grow. The flowers were crushed, but regardless, they shouldn't have been there. Weren't pixies able to grow flowers..? "Yamato-e, Mr. Owl, over here!" she called, and when the familiars flew over to her side she gestured at the flowers with her head. "Could Parthenos have grown those? It looks like they lead into the woods."
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