The Twins

[Ixzo]

14th of Summer, 516AV

You two will be raised as dear Navre intended, I swear to it.

It seemed like a very morbid promise to a pair of brats, Ixzo thought. She remembered the silly vow she gave to these kittens when she decided to take them in, saving them from the life of a dog as she saw it, especially when they were so… just the way they were. The dewy pre-dawn morning still surrounded the hunting trio, and even though they had successfully caught nothing, the caracals were for some reason proud of themselves. Tetez tried to play with her tail while walking, which resulted in him tripping over his own feet and hers, while Tlii was trotting beside Ixzo. The female was easily distracted with dragonflies and cicadas, but there was no shame in her ears as they neared the Endrykas encampment once more.

Ixzo, on the other hand, was content with ignoring her adopted kittens at the moment. She'd been working with them for nearly a season, but the silly little things had perhaps spent too much time with humans, for they saw no necessity in the hunt. That, and, Ixzo suspected her Pavilion members were slipping them bites to eat when they shouldn't. Ixzo was not so stupid as to starve these little kits when she was plenty capable of providing them a comfortable life. Yet, as kittens, the first things they needed to learn was the necessity of the hunt. And if she couldn't teach them that, she might as well have adopted a pair of bunnies.

Bunnies would probably taste better anyway.

[Ixzo]

Despite their lack of seriousness with the hunt, Ixzo had to find her way back into the two-legged body of a human as she approached Endrykas. There were not many, even in her own Pavilion, who were completely comfortable with her dark form, and the Kelvic minded the shift much less than she would a spear in the gut. Pulling the vibrating warmth into her bones, it was merely ticks of ripping heat and lack of senses before Ixzo found herself in a different awareness. Her vision and smell had dulled much, yet she was still stronger than a simply human in those areas. Her bare skin took to the warm air with ease, much more sensitive to the humid summer night. Out of habit, Ixzo glanced behind her at the kittens, where were stunned by the sudden transfer but quickly readjusting to the new her, as she clearly smelled the same. Their young minds were so easily adaptable, they were getting much better with her transformations. No longer having a tail to urge them forward with, Ixzo clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, attracting the young attention spans with ease, and they continued as before.

She had come home much earlier than she usually did, too exhausted for not having caught anything, and with a different mission on her mind. The kittens were not quite wild animals, despite how she treated them. Their soft fur had been severely caked in mud from the river banks during their improvised fishing breaks, so that would need to be cleaned. The lioness had throughly cleaned her face and ears, but was unwilling to drag her tongue across the thick caking of mud on their legs. Opposable thumbs and access to soap were useful for that, and she knew they wouldn’t like it.

Ixzo also wanted to make the caracals more at home. It was already evident the young, impressionable hunting cats had taken to her as easily as if she had birthed them herself, and while she did not worry in the least that they would disappear from her, she wanted to mark them in the way the Drykas marked their animals. She liked her own decorations, the metal piercings in her face, the braiding of her dreads, and of course, her scars and ink. She only thought it fitting the caracals earned a thin light blue strand around their necks like the Striders got feathers and strings braided into their manes. It meant nothing to her or the twins, it only meant possession to the other Drykas, and if that was the goal then so be it.

"C'mon you freaks." She complained with no displeasure, scooping up each twin in each hand. Tlii abided the new arrangement with her arm with ease, propping her hind legs on Ixzo's left hip to stable herself, but otherwise not struggling. Tetez, on the other hand, clearly preferred to walk, as he made immediately clear by scratching at her forearm, and lightly gnawing on her bicep. Ixzo ignored him, as he was doing no real harm. He had yet to comprehend the impending doom which was a bath that he was destined to endure in a few short chimes.

[Ixzo]

The bare kelvic slipped through the goats and the herbivores that surrounding the Stormblood Pavilion. They scattered at her presence, clearly alarmed, but after realizing she paid them no mind, they returned the favor. Just before ducking into the large tent for her clothes, Ixzo set the twins down, letting them roam outside instead of letting them into the canvas where they would surely wake the sleeping humans. Once in the dark tent, she scooped through her chest of things, pulling out little more than a pair of breeches and a breast-band she slipped them on as quietly as possible. Among the deep breathing and snoring of the Pavilion in the early morning hours, she could not even hear the cloth slipping over her skin. Just before she left, Ixzo snagged the few yarn strands she had gotten from Iollu, her soap, and then poured through Jasmine's things for her brush.

Her occasional hunting partner had fine blonde hair, and while Ixzo had never really watched the process of washing, brushing, and braiding, it made her thankful she had the thick locks that were easily woven back into her comfortable Mohawk. She'd clean and return the brush long before Jasmine even woke of course, and therefore felt no regret for borrowing it.

Ducking back out of the tent with her spoils, Ixzo snagged the drinking water bucket from the entrance. At the muted noise of her footsteps, the kittens appeared once more, weaving between her feet. It seemed when she had no hands they wanted her to pay the most attention to them. "Filthy and needy, what purpose did I think to buy you for?" She tossed another insult at the kittens in such a sweet voice it would seem she was speaking to a baby. Utterly not understanding, the kittens read her body language, purring at what they perceived to be a positive interaction. Silly. Ixzo grinned to herself. Even the callous hunter could not resist the contagious happiness of a kitten.

[Ixzo]

"Okay, now you're going to hate me." She whispered just as cheerily, setting the bucket down and crouching beside it. The kitten wandered over, sniffing it, and Ixzo took her chance to snag Tetez by the scruff of his neck. Like any kitten he stiffened in surrender, letting her easily pick him up and support his lower half with her other hand. "Don't claw me." She gently ducked the kitten into the air-temperature water. It was only a little cooler than the air around them, but the kitten squirmed anyway. Quickly, in an effort to make this a painless as possible for him, she gently scrubbed his hind legs, working the flakes of reddish mud from his hair. Large chunks released easily, and fell into the bucket where they dissolved. That part was quite easy, only her night eyes could clearly see the dirt that remained imbedded in his soaking fur. She moved to loosen the flakes from his front paws too, which in turn started the cat on a low guttural measure in his throat. He was not yet yowling in complaints, although the young one made it very clear how much he liked Ixzo's shenanigans.

His sister reacted to his moans, sitting up with sudden alertness, her ears following every little noise in their surroundings. She was no yet warned enough to run, but the young caracal was tensely alert. "Oh calm down." Ixzo sighed, scooping up the bar of soap, dipping it in the water with one hand and twisting it between her fingers until they were properly sudsy. Once so she returned to scrubbing his legs, still holding him firmly by the scruff to keep him from fighting her. Still he couldn't help but yank each paw away when she grabbed for it with the soap. She was not overly powerful with her fingers, but the Kelvic didn't hold back as she scrubbed the dirt from his paws either.

It took only a few chimes before she had all the dirt from his fur, scrubbed with soap, and well rinsed. She knew she would have disrupted the natural oils in his fur which kept him healthy, but as a kitten he would easily replenish them within a day, utterly forgetting the distressing bath. But before she let him go, Ixzo dropped him into the rag, brushing down his wettest fur. It wasn't so much she cared about the wetness attracting more dirt, anything they scuffed up at camp they could clean themselves. Yet Ixzo had heard somewhere that even in the summer, disease could come from being wet for too long, and with no sun to dry him, Ixzo didn't want to take the chance. Better safe than sorry.

[Ixzo]

As soon as Tetez was free of the locking hold of his scruff he was fighting her, still offering the low complaints in his moans, but less so. Trapping him with the rag, she finished drying his tail, only to find he was purring. She could very clearly see the tension in his tail and feel it in his shoulders, but the cat was purring as if she was some silly human who would think him happy and let him go. "You forget who I am, I won't fall for that." She released him and the young Caracal shot forward, spooking his sister in the process. "I know you two don't like it, and I don't care." She muttered in answer, laying the damp rag out on the grass beside her. The water was muddy and hairy now, and Ixzo picked the bucket up, making the trek down to the stream to empty it and refill it so that Tlii could get her turn in the torture chamber.

To Ixzo's surprised Tetez had been quite easy, and considering he was the biggest complainer of the twins, Ixzo underestimated Tlii's ability to be unhappy. Over confident the Kelvic scooped up Tlii by the scruff as well, supporting her lower back before slowly dunking her into the fresh water. A gasp sounded as Ixzo was immediately clawed in her forearm. Seemingly immune to the infant instinct of freezing when grabbed by the scruff, Tlii had twisted herself out of the water so she was clinging to Ixzo's arm. "Tsssk!" Ixzo hissed in response, dropping her over the grass and releasing her scruff, which released the claws from her arm. The cat landed on her feet and bounded off, catching up with her clean younger brother.

She glared at the two which hovered by the fuel brick pile, watching her for a further attack, and turned to her wounds. The claw marks were not terribly deep. On a vain level, Ixzo was glad, she did not want the scars to interfere with the river tattoo on her arm. Small drops of dark liquid swelled under each mark, not enough to flow in streams, but enough to create large bubbles of blood above them. Letting out a frustrated sigh, the Kelvic grabbed the rag, patting the blood dry. After battles fought, starvation, intentional and unintentional scars as well as ink, this bit of pain was barely registering in Ixzo's senses, but she was no fool. With no intention to get it infected by cleaning the cats, Ixzo stood to return to the tent, grabbing a clean rag to wrap around her arm while she waited for the bleeding to stop.

[Ixzo]

Carefully binding her forearm, Ixzo returned to the water bucket, laying down on her back beside it. Letting out a huff, Ixzo threw her arms above her head in defeat, stretching out on the grass to look up at the stars. She could hear the kittens padding carefully around, not far enough away that they couldn't keep an eye on her, but not close enough for her to attempt a grab at them again. Although she wasn't tired, after a few ticks of simply laying there, her body gave in to a long yawn, her eyes wetting as she blinked back up at the stars. She was comfortable here, even with the pin-pricks of fire in her forearm, which was slowly going away as the blood stopped flowing. After a little bit of time looking at the stars in the bright midnight sky, watching the soft clouds roam past the crescent moon, Ixzo realized she had stopped paying attention to the kittens. She was only alerted to their presence once more when Tetez' soft nose touched across her calf. A tick later he was curling up next to it.

Tlii, of course, was still holding back, but she was one to typically follow in her brother's footsteps and it wasn't long before the muddy twin had curled up at her foot as well. Carefully, so she did not spook them, Ixzo rose to a sitting position, her muscles straining as she didn't use her hands for support. Stretching as far as she could, Ixzo stroked the fur between Tlii's shoulders, feeling the burn in her hamstrings at the stretch.

Without any warning, Ixzo clutched the scruff once more, her muscles burning as she shifted into a squat with relative ease. "You're a terrible hunter, and terrible prey too." She murmured to the kitten as Tetez skirted away, and Ixzo gave Tlii no more mercy, clutching her hind legs rather than supporting them. She still eased the kitten into the water, but the Kelvic was more prepared for her struggling this time. Tlii squirmed in her hands and yowled much louder than her brother's low moans. It sounded as if Ixzo was torturing her, which she was not.

[Ixzo]

This time the Kelvic worked faster than she did with Tetez, although it took longer to actually get all the dirt off, as she attempted to fend off Tlii's claws. When she dumped her in the grass to dry her with the rag, Ixzo kept ahold of her scruff rather than just smothering her with the cloth, she had no intention of letting Tlii escape and get sick either. Still, it was nearly twice as many chimes before she finally let the caracal skitter off to find her brother. She would let the creatures recoup now, away from her. They weren't happy about their ruffled coats and likely weren't going to trust her again after that escapade, but Ixzo didn't mind, they'd come back around to her.

Instead Ixzo took the strings out, tying a quick knot at the end of six of them. There were two soft blue yarns, one deep cerulean, and three soft white colors. Once she had the yarns lined up, she tied the other end as well, pulling her knife out and sniping the uneven ends off, then she cut it down the middle, creating two strings. Braiding them was easy work, something she had grown very used to living with the Drykas. She had braided her own hair, Iollu's hair, and helped the little girl braid many things for her small crafts. Ixzo knew that the knots were important to the Drykas, but she herself didn't care for them much. Still, the two collars wound together very quickly, an interesting mix of lights and darks in the colors of her clans. Ixzo would attach them to the kittens when they were in a better mood.

At the moment though, a real yawn racked Ixzo's chest, forcing her mouth open and rewetting her eyes. The light was changing around her, and she hadn't realized. The moon was far from down, the summer moons always seemed to stay in the sky well into the morning. Yet Syna was already chasing her lover, peaking over the horizon to slowly remind her the day was beginning. The nocturnal lioness stretched, bringing the bucket down to the stream to clean and refill it, another uncontrollable yawn taking over before she could place it back down by the entrance, dropping the drinking ladle back into it.

Tetez was sniffing the water once more, suspicious of her refill, but Ixzo paid him no mind, scooping up the things and bringing them back into the tent. She hadn't actually used the brush, overestimating the caracal's trust in her afterwards, so Ixzo simply slipped it back into her friends things without a thought. Just after putting her things back, Ixzo crouched beside the slumbering Rufio, curling up next to her sister who usually woke just as she was getting to sleep. Her forearm stung a bit, but it wasn't quite enough to fend off the oncoming bliss of dreams, something to distract her from another unsuccessful hunt with the twins. They would have to try again the next night, that was all.

[Rufio]

　　

◃ g　r　a　d　e　s ▹

xp

Animal Husbandry +3
Medicine +1
Bodybuilding +1
Tactics +1
Weapon, Knife +1
Planning +1


lores

Medicine: Being wet for too long encourages illness
Tlii and Tetez: Regard Ixzo like mother
Braiding collars for Tlii and Tetez



Always enjoy your solos, Ixzo. If you feel I've missed anything in this grade feel free to shoot me a PM. Don't forget to edit your request here.