Hidden Grotto looking righteous

<blockquote>

Alone, a bundle of ginger fur sat at the edge of the pool, glowering into its depths. It's glassy surface was not a mirror, but more like a window. The scrawny, malnourished copper wolf could look down into it and see his reflection, sure; but he could also look past his reflection, and see that it was this awful place that had done this too him: it had marred him, defiled him. By no means was he vain, since to be thus was very sinful indeed —but Kiche had been comfortable with his appearance, before, when he had looked into the mirrors at home. Now he could see he had transformed. He was twisted and broken and violated. All because of this awful, barren, deadly place. Already, he was beginning to change, he noted with devastated pang in his heart. All this, he could see when he looked through the window of the Hidden Grotto.

Anger lanced at his soul, and then, in an instant, he snapped his jaws and leaped at the water, into the water. No longer did he want to see the ugly creature Hell had made of him. Soaked to the bone, the young wolf stood dripping in the water up that just brushed at his belly. It was freezing, but he was so, so enraged that he forced himself not to care. Why was Pangur letting him live like this? What punishment was he seeking? Where did it end? Was this a test or a lesson? Kiche snarled —a sound and expression he still had not mastered, but found himself using more often— bitterly, wondering what he could possibly learn from this, if there was anything to be taken away from the savages. As far as he was concerned, they had nothing to offer. Then again, Kiche was no God.

But Pangur was. And Pangur chose for Kiche to suffer, so suffer he ought to. Yet, somehow Kiche found that it was his nature to rail angry at this unfair treatment. It was driving him crazy, driving him mad. Lashing out at the water again, Kiche screamed. Where wolves vented through howls, Kiche just shouted, raved, wailed, and screamed. He probably never would, after hearing those chilling voices of savages from the depths of the night. He figured they were part of voodoo rituals, evil things. So instead, he voided his anger in the sound of an angry screech that most wolves probably had never imagined producing.</blockquote>

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<i>I didn't know if you had anyone tagged, but Kiche is way too tempting :3</i>

<blockquote>Now free from his inner ties, Kinis felt far more at ease travelling Relic Lore. It was still risky to be alone, but he wasn't alone anymore, not really; he had rediscovered Ruiko, alongside all the love he had for his family, and life was finally settled again. Kinis wasn't sure what he planned to do, since Ruiko and Swift River were no longer the same thing and his birth pack was the only one Kinis knew... but he didn't let it worry him. For now, home was with Ruiko, whether that meant a semi-nomadic existence or nor.

Boy, did he take to the roaming aspect. Comforted by the notion that he had someone to go back to, Kinis was a lot happier taking off for the day, seeing things in his own pace. The contradiction was not lost on him. Just as Kinis was no longer trapped in any one place, he was drawn to his oldest brother, giving him the safety of home but no curfew. Compared to the carefree, careless version of life he had tasted over the winter, it was bliss, and Kinis felt like a massive weight had lifted, taking with it worry and stress. He only need worry about the little things, now. The past year had been hard, in many ways, but he begun to believe that it could all be repaired.

As his mild depression retreated, so his natural, abundant curiosity returned, though Kinis had grown out of his ceaseless questions; instead, his greatest reason for exploring was so that he could try to answer his own questions. Ruiko would just have to suffer those he failed to satisfy on his own.

One such wordless question bounced up when an unearthly cry rang out somewhere ahead, in the direction of the Falls Kinis had been quietly travelling to. His first instinct was to stop, afraid, but he quickly realised that he did not recognise the creator of that sound. Confident that he would be able to flee if it turned out to be anything extremely vicious - it had sounded less on the rodent end of the scale - Kinis tentatively continued through the forest, quickly breaking through the snowy undergrowth to have his vision filled with that beautiful waterfall.

A quick scan identified nothing huge and monstrous. Wariness giving way to intrigue, though still on high alert, he pressed onwards. It was not long before he pinpointed the only significant creature in the area, that of a large, plain male wolf, belly-deep in water and acting like... well, Kinis had no idea. That was why he was investigating, right? Tentatively, he took a few more steps towards the waters edge, keeping a purposeful distance between himself and the wolf, fervent questions burning away. Doing a decent job at not staring, the young boy lowered his head to the cold water and lapped at it, wondering if he would be able to witness this wolf make that sound again. It surely couldn't have come from a wolf, could it?</blockquote>

<center>
<i>at least... that's where I'm supposed to be...</i></center>

<blockquote>]<ul>:3 naww, this was just a regular AW. I'm glad Kiche gets to meet Kinis.</li></ul>

---

Just as Kiche whirled about to lunge angrily behind him in his furious, uncanny dance, he realized that he had an audience. A little savage. This time, Kiche's screams took on a new note entirely: one part surprised mixed with eight parts fear. How long had that... that... thing been sitting their, watching him? These savages always seemed to be popping out of no where, always seeming as if they had always been there, watching him. His fear gave way to the default disgust. What a vulgar, rude, habit, he thought. But these savages were full of them. Narrowing his eyes, Kiche stared at the little hellion as it leaned down to drink from the pool, calculating his next move.

What would Pangur want him to do?

Indeed, thought Kiche, What would he have me do?. It occurred to him, though, that he didn't actually know. In this case, the affront to God, while his very presence was a sort of crime, was not doing anything nearly as bad as the other members of his kind. The first one he had met had attacked him, the second had tripped him up in an attempt to do Pangur knows what, the third and fourth had plotted his demise... and well, that other white one who was in charge of the group he lived with. She was just fishy. There was something wrong with her. But this one was... Well, Kiche couldn't really decide what he was doing, besides soiling the water with his disgusting, heathen tongue. And since he couldn't think of what Pangur would want him to do, he wondered what Aisling would do... No, that's not working either. Confused and still very angry, Kiche tossed his head about.

"Savages, he grumbled audibly.</blockquote>

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<blockquote>Well, that was one answer easily obtained, though the logical follow-ups of <i>how</i> and <i>why</i> would not nearly be so easy. Having thought his presence innocent enough, Kinis was rather unpleasantly surprised when the wolf's attention honed in on him, causing faint concern to prickle Kinis' neck. He didn't like being the target of unknown, large strangers... the only exception to that was Alex, who had quickly crossed from unknown stranger into trusted stranger, with no real explanation Kinis could provide. It was just a gut feeling, he supposed.

His gut was trying to tell him all sorts of strange things here, but Kinis was unnerved enough as it was to listen too closely. Despite his attempts to be innoucous, attempts which had appeared to fail right from the start, Kinis's ears couldn't help but swivel accordingly when the water-soaked stranger said something. Just one word. Kinis frowned, faintly, unable to put a satisfactory meaning to the word, confusion momentarily overtaking his customary cautiousness. When the wolf offered no explanation, Kinis quickly realised he was done for; this was definitely a one-way road, and there was no way he was going to be able to resist.

<b>"What... what does that mean?"</b> he asked with slight hesitation, voice soft but, like the others', intentionally audible. He had fought with the idea of saying nothing, deeply loathe to contribute to what was already an apparently awful day. He didn't want to make anybody feel worse, not when he had nothing against the guy. But you couldn't just fling new words at someone and expect them to take it lying down. Especially not Kinis.</blockquote>

<center>
<i>at least... that's where I'm supposed to be...</i></center>

<blockquote>

For the first time since arriving here, he saw his own feelings mirrored in the face of this little beast. Strange. Kiche didn't understand it. Was it some sort of angle? Being so small, it probably used this "fear" card in order to lure in victims. At least, logically, that was how Kiche saw it, unable to think of heathens fundamentally capable of any emotions beyond a very limited spectrum that only ranged several emotions. Greed, lust, envy, wrath, sloth, pride, and vanity. The seven deadly sins, of course, were all that logically fit with such vile sinners. Fear, however, was a pious emotion, an emotion that put the humble into their rightful place beneath God on this earth. Apprehension was not meant for the likes of his kind.

But what had Aisling, the angel, told him? That everyone had some good in him? He had still yet to figure out how he felt about that. Once more, he shoved it aside, not willing to give it a chance at this given time. Instead, he sloshed backwards, deeper into the pool, hoping he'd be safer there. Could heathens swim? Kiche couldn't. "Don't pretend like you don't know! You're one of them! Cretin!" How dare this thing feign innocent. How dare he attempt to shine so white when his soul was soul clearly blackened. How dare he, how dare he, how dare he. "Don't you tell me that you don't know what you are!" His jaws snapped menacingly, his eyes gleaming with an insane fire.</blockquote>

(This post was last modified: Mar 15, 2011, 10:37 PM by Kiche.)

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<blockquote>Not for the first time, Kinis was speechless. He sat comfortably somewhere between confusion, terror and a roaring demand to understand. Of who was he a part? What did he know? The wolf seemed deeply on edge, as if he were lashing out, but Kinis couldn't understand why he would be the target. His mind flickered back to the last wolf to snarl at him, that grey beast who had known his name, but this was different. It was like... it wasn't anything to do with him, not really. Kinis did take a moment to wonder if he had ever accidentally offended or hurt this wolf on a prior occasion, but he already knew that he had never even met him before.

Aware that he should be afraid, the rightful terror quickly morphed into uneasiness. What had he done wrong? Could he apologise when he didn't know what to apologise for? The wolf dared him to deny his guilt, but Kinis could not honestly think what he had done. Sad confusion took over even more when the large male <i>backed away</i>, somehow securing the notion that he wasn't a threat, for he acted as if <i>Kinis</i> was. The wolf snapped and sounded angry, but he reminded Kinis of a small animal puffing itself up.

A flash of pain went through the boy's expression as he failed again and again to come up with a reason as to how he had offended this wolf. He may have made many mistakes in his time, and slighted another due to his own meekness, but never to warrant this. What on earth could he have done? <b>"I... I'm sorry,"</b> he said, sounding not one bit false - but would it matter? - <b>"but... I don't. Please... please tell me?"</b></blockquote>

<center>
<i>at least... that's where I'm supposed to be...</i></center>

<blockquote><ul>lulz. i think kiche may end up trying to convert kinis xD short cause i'm lame</li></ul>

---

This was unbelievable! Kiche had called him out, and still the heathen lied and pretended that he was guilty of nothing. Did he really think he could get away with this? "What do you take me for? A fool? Don't lie to me. You'll be punished. Your ancestors and relatives will all be punished for the crimes you savages commit. So DON'T LIE TO ME!" This command was punctuated not only with an exclamation point, but with a lunge forward as well, a warning. Kiche had now crossed the threshold of madness long ago and was not in a very volatile state. Seething, his breath would have been fire had he been a dragon. Righteous, righteous anger.</blockquote>

(This post was last modified: Mar 15, 2011, 11:04 PM by Kiche.)

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ooc; hope you don't mind me X)

we are all decieving, lost, and bleeding.

The water flows that trickled down the mountain, cascading into a prominant waterfall had her intrest. She was no longer a lone wolf, but of the mountain. The fact would not have tied from roaming a ways from it. There was a lot of hours in a day to kill, and meeting new faces or finding new places in her head was a good way to pass them.Careful steps, she drifted down the rocky inclines.

What she didn't plan on finding right off the bat were two single males one on the end of some very heated convictions. Driftin' through the foliage, stride was condfident, and ears twisted upon them. Washed out left brow was raised in an arch, though her lips and eyes were apathy. In hiding behind nearby tanglement of trees she gave them each a single gaze noting the smaller size of the tawny catching his younger lean of his face and body. The other was larger, the same orange hued one she had, and the one who was dealing exclamations. Before she walked nearer he made a lunge foward. He could have easily passed for some rabinus creature, the way his breath poured out.

Much of it did not make sense to her, the other looked innocent of any crime, in her eyes she couldn't see an immediate evidence of any committed. She pushed herself into the open, coming to the side of the commotion. Tail curled behind her like a cougar's,and her cran was raised high. Lips peeled over left side of her canines, and with narrowed gold eyes she stared onto the acuser."Who are you to damn another, and his ancestors?"

(This post was last modified: Mar 16, 2011, 04:02 AM by Skylah.)

<blockquote>A very long, quiet whine was all that Kiche was initially rewarded with, for he had effectively flattened all of Kinis' defences. What could you say to such powerful conviction? Kinis had absolutely no idea what he had done, but it must have been terrible to deserve this. Guilt and paranoia and terror came flooding back, the latter reinstated when the bellowing stranger lashed out, reaffirming his status as a very real threat. It was righteous anger and Kinis was ready to crumble under it.

<i><font style='margin-left:20px;'>what did I do what did I do what did I do what did I do what did I do </font></i>

He didn't mean to lie, honest, but he found himself completely torn; how did he apologise for something he couldn't remember, and how could he ask to be reminded without being called a liar? It was a truly vicious circle, and he felt trapped and helpless. A flash of panic coursed through him as the cursing extended to his family - <i>no not them!</i> - and he emotionally flailed all the harder, not wanting to drag his beloved siblings or the memory of his parents down with him. With a tortured sound, his backside fell heavy to the ground, for he lacked the strength to stand any longer. Ears flat, his gaze dropped in shame, and he was almost too worn to pay attention to the newest arrival.

To Kinis' utmost surprise, the female stood up for him, stood up for his <i>family</i>, contesting the male's right to judge him so. Kinis had wondered the same, but how could the wolf be so passionate and yet so wrong? Had Kinis not been swiftly and effectively wrung out by the constant accusations, he may have taken the newcomer's support with fervent relief. But why pick on Kinis out of randomness? The wolf had to have some design, some reason, of which particulars Kinis was simply ignorant. Yet he would not be told why he was guilty! It was torturous.

<i><b>"I'm sorry,"</b></i> he wheezed, eager to repent for his many sins, even those of which he wasn't aware.</blockquote>

<center>
<i>at least... that's where I'm supposed to be...</i></center>

<blockquote>

Once more there was a strange prickling feeling inside of Kiche's soul when he saw the heathen literally curl up on the ground. It confused him beyond anything, and dampened a good deal of his rage. But it made his head ache, to be caught on the threshold of decision. Was this a trick? What was real and what was an illusion? Kiche could no longer tell. Everything had a faint, glimmering strangeness about it that drove Kiche mad, that confused him to the point at which his conflicted emotions only made him angrier. But what was this? Was this a contrived plot, or genuine repentance that he saw before him?

Before he could decide, clattering rocks alerted him to a new threat. Was this wolf back up? Probably. He had been about to give in an believe the sickening little heathen. But here, standing before him, was the second heathen, whose snarling, bat-out-of-hell entrance had obviously been planned. Oh my Pangur, what did I almost do? He was horrified in this momentary weakness that probably almost cost him his life. He glanced at the one heathen, on the ground mumbling, and then at the other one who was showcasing a very disgusting, ugly set of teeth. No, wait, his life was clearly still at stake. Fear musk choked the air around him. He was angry at himself, angry with these heathens, but so very very confused. And his headache only increased.

Which of course, always lead to the classic —

Blehhhhh!

Lovely. Now chunks of digested leaves and berries —his disgusting semi-heathen, vegetarian diet floated in the water around him. Disgusting, vile, angry creatures. They were going to kill him. Why had he come out here? Where was Pangur? Kiche sloshed farther back in the water, until he was up to the base of his neck, unsure of what to do. He did not even think to respond to that stupid question that the savage had asked him.</blockquote>

(This post was last modified: Mar 19, 2011, 07:46 PM by Kiche.)

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