In the sway of night (Scorn)

[Dovinya]

Note for whomever grades thisFor my part of this thread, you don't need to produce a grade as I am retiring this character. Thank you for your time, and attention.

80th of Summer, 513 AV (?)

Underneath a star filled sky, a lone symenestra climbed across the rocks above the entrance to Kalinor, picking his way easily up the steep slope. Though there was only the faint light of the moon and stars, he saw easily enough, his golden orbs easily taking in what little light there was and finding solid places from which to continue his hasty ascent. Being out here in the open had him quite anxious, as he felt less protected without a ceiling of rock over his head, never mind the fact that these mountains were likely teeming with deadly wildlife that would love to make a meal of him. He needed to get a proper view of the surrounding area though so he could progress to more intensive research in the Cribellum about how he might survive in this wild and dangerous environment.

Every noise had him gripping the rocks with white knuckles, and looking frantically about before continuing on. His lash, its metal gleaming in the moonlight, offered him little comfort against the phantom of monstrous sized creatures ambushing him amidst these crags that filtered through his thoughts. It caused him to unintentionally shudder, and at that he pulled himself up onto the next ledge he came across to take a break before he got himself worked up further.

Maybe he'd come out here too soon, he thought as he rested his back against a broad rock, his eyes idly scanning over the mountainside spread out before him.

[Scorn]

Scorn was feeling restless. She couldn't just stay in that cave full of meat and not eat any of it, no matter what her sister said. So Scorn hunted, like a true Zith, and Scourge followed. Scorn was grateful; even though she was remembering how much her twin annoyed her, they had been too long apart. She was glad that Scourge could feel that too, given how...attached she had gotten to these pale stick-men. Maybe through hunting, Scourge would remember her true self, and then they could go home. Her hunt this night, however, had so far been unsuccessful. She was not yet used to finding prey in these mountains. Anything that was prey seemed inclined to hide behind rocks, instead of just being under the much less secure tree foliage of the woods she was used to. She was letting Scourge take the lead, since Scorn would probably get them lost. If Scorn had realized that her sister was taking them back toward Kalinor, she probably would have gotten annoyed, but something distracted her. A fluttering, elevated heartbeat. When she heart that sound, Scorn's blood rushed in anticipation. That was the sound of fear. The sound of prey. She broke out of formation with Scourge to hunt the source of the heartbeat. There, on a ledge on the side of the mountain, one of the stick men. Scorn's lip curled up in a predatory grin. It had been so long since she had tasted good fear. With smooth motions, she adjusted her altitude and angle of approach. She angled herself alongside the cliff face, so that she could swoop in, grab the prey, and carry it off in one motion without crashing into the rock. She dove toward the Symenestra, her fur blending with the grey mountain rock the way her sister blended with the night sky. Scorn hadn't been paying attention to Scourge, but as her claws grabbed at the Symenestra, she heard her sister should in the ugly slave language, "Scorn, don't--!" Hearing how badly her sister had assimilated only infuriate Scorn, and she tightened her grip on her prey as she tore him away from his precious ground.

OOCIf carrying you off was taking too many liberties, please let me know and I'll edit.

[Dovinya]

He didn't even hear the zith coming, so lost in his thoughts was he that in one fell swoop, Dovinya found himself jarred violently from his musings. The combination of claws digging into his flesh, and the sudden absence of ground beneath his feet stunned him momentarily as he struggled to grasp the terrifying situation he suddenly found himself in.

Hardly thinking at this point of how far the ground was getting at this point, he struggled in the creatures grasp for all that he was capable of, not even noticing another voice that spoke in a tongue he should've recognized. All he was concerned about now was that if he didn't do something in these next few moments, he was likely to end up as this creatures lunch.

Why did I come alone!

[Scorn]

"Scorn, don't hurt him!" Scourge cried angrily, flying up to meet her sister. Scourge grabbed at the man Scorn had just carried off, catching hold of his wrist. Affronted at Scourge's attempt to snatch the prey from her very claws, Scorn hissed and lashed out, catching Scourge's ankle with her clawed feet. It was more of a reflex than anything; she did not want to hurt her sister (at least not badly), but she was bewildered at Scourge's desire to go hungry. In an attempt to make peace, she said, "Don't worry, I'll share it with you when it's dead. I'm not going to keep it all to myself." Contrary to all rational sense, this only inspired her twin's wrath, and Scourge took a desperate swipe at the hands holding onto the stick man. She caught Scorn in the wrist, drawing blood, from a cut deep enough to shock Scorn into letting go. Her prey slipped in her grasp. Scorn did not know what her sister was thinking, only that Scourge wanted her to drop the prey. It was against her nature to abandon prey once she had it in her grasp, but this was her sister, so Scorn let go. As Dovinya dropped, Scourge cried out in shock and dismay. The suddenness of his plummet pulled his wrist from Scourge's hand, but as he fell toward the rocks, instead of letting him smash against the mountain, Scourge dove after him. Was she just out of practice hunting and wanted to kill this one herself? Scorn hoped that was it. Scorn watched the scene from her current height, licking at her still bleeding wound (it was surprisingly deep). Scourge made a grab for the falling stick man, but they were too close to the rocks. She had time to slow his descent only a little before they both hit the ground. Concern for her sister made Scorn cry out and dive down to help (pulling up much more safely). When she landed, at first Scorn thought her sister was crying in pain from the fall. But no, Scourge was... was cradling the stick man in her arms, and crooning as if... well, as if a favorite pet was in danger. Scorn would not allow herself to believe it was anything more than that. It made sense that Scourge would seek the companionship of slaves in the absence of Zith company. Scorn had never had much luck with slaves herself, but she could understand why some Zith liked them. As long as it was just affection for a slave, and not a replacement for true Zith, Scorn could handle that...

[Dovinya]

To his horror, there was not only one of the creatures, but two he realized when the other zith seized him by his wrist. He tried to jerk away, but its grip was far greater than his own and he found himself helplessly tugged between the two beasts, held dreadfully far above the rocky outcroppings below.

He certainly was not used to being so wary of heights, but in the grasping claws of these beasts, he felt very little control over his lofty position as he swung freely in the air.

It all happened so fast from there, one of the creatures lashing paricularly viciously at the other, and then all too suddenly he was falling. The ground was rushing up to meet him incredibly fast. Something grabbed at him, but he barely noticed it for moments later he was crashing into the ground. He hadn't even had the chance to properly set his feet underneath him, so instead of rolling smoothly with his momentum, it was more of a bounce as he awkwardly hopped sideways as soon as his feet touched the ground, and in a poor attempt to compensate for his momentum he took the brunt of his fall on his side as he rolled across the ground.

When he finally settled out on the ground, the measure of his injuries became apparent as sharp pains radiated from his whole body it seemed, the more intense injuries on his sides and legs making it hard to even move slightly as he laid there on the ground, staring up at the starry sky.

Now I can't even put up a fight when they start to feast upon me

He hardly suppressed a gasp when one of the creatures landed close, one with a peculiarly familiar face, and he winced in anticipation of the strike sure to come from the beast. Instead of claws and teeth burying into his flesh though, it held him close, and had a unmistakable voice.

"Scourge!" He breathed in relief, as he eyes opened to look into hers. "How did you find me?" So many other pressing questions burned within him, but with the pain muddling his thoughts and the shock of seeing Scourge after nearly having been eating alive left him struggling to even think of what to say.

Viratas.. thank you

[Scorn]

The thing knew Scourge's name. Scorn could hardly understand it. "Scourge... you know this...prey?" Scorn felt torn. She wanted to run away from the stranger her sister had become, and yet, she couldn't leave Scourge. She stood, frozen with inner conflict, watching everything in her world twist into wrongness. Scourge did not immediately answer Scorn--her first concern was for Dovinya. "Shh, don't worry, I'm here now. You'll be all right." Scourge tried to reassure the Symenestra, but she didn't sound convinced of her own words. She turned to Scorn and tried to explain. "When I came to Kalinor, I was so alone... the Symenestra were the closest thing to a colony I could find. I tried to adapt to their ways, but I didn't understand any of it. I followed some of them into a building, and I met Dovinya. He was the first person to talk to me, to make me feel like...like maybe this could be home." Scorn recoiled in horror at her sister's story. It was true, Scourge had replaced her true colony with these...these land-walkers! It was no use trying to talk her out of it; Scourge knew no other colony anymore. Scorn began to breath more quickly, so much so that she was becoming light-headed. Was Scourge lost to the Zith forever?! NO! Scorn couldn't accept that. There had to be a way to bring her sister back. Scourge would never leave her new colony, but maybe...maybe if Scorn could gather enough Zith, they could form a new colony! And then Scourge would be reminded of what she truly was! It was a tiny hope, but Scorn clung to it, as tightly as she was now clutching a small pendant she wore around her neck. With that tiny hint of resolve, Scorn could now think more clearly. To earn back her sister's trust, she would have to go along with Scourge's wishes for now. Even though it killed her to treat prey like family, doing otherwise would drive Scourge from her. Still, she was unable to hide her disgust as she said to the prey-beast, "Fine. We will help you return to your home." She began to lift the stick man by the shoulders.

[Dovinya]

"Did you get.." His words caught in his throat when he noticed the other zith. Scourge had hunted him.. Any hope of getting safetly back to Kalinor vanished with that realization, and he visibly stiffened in Scourge's arms as he stared at the other zith, lurking ever closer. Was it there intent to eat him after setting him at ease? Did calm meet taste better than that muddled with excitement? The dark thoughts drew a shudder from him.

"Viratas preserve me" He whispered in Symnos under his breath, looking from Scourge to the other zith as they communicated in their beastly tongue. Where they discussing how best to finish him off?

The other zith's next words, spoken in a tongue he could understand, caught him by surprise, and almost made him forget his wariness of this one. Almost. The rough handling of the creature brought a cry of pain from him that had more than a little bit of fear mixed in. He clutched protectively at his tender side, eyeing unfamiliar zith carefully. For all he knew it still could all be a trick to get him as calm as he suspected they wanted.

"A moment please!" He raised his voice hastily, mind more than a little clouded by the pain. Quickly regretting his words, he added. "I need to rest a moment, see how bad it is. Who is this Scourge?"

[Scorn]

Scorn scoffed in disgust and dropped the stick man. He clearly could not make up his mind what he wanted, and if not for Scourge, she would not even be bothering with him. She stepped back, watching Scourge deal with the stick man. As Scourge explained the Scorn was her sister, Scorn was gripped with a growing disgust. Scourge was treating this...prey creature...with more consideration than she'd even seen Zith use for their slaves. She was almost treating him like family. He even spoke her name as if they were friends. Unable to stand it anymore, Scorn grabbed her sister's arm and demanded, "Enough of this nonsense! Let's just eat him and be done with it!" Scourge pulled her arm away and said a little resentfully, "No! He's not prey! Please Scorn, he's a friend. They are all friends. Don't eat any of them." Scorn could not believe her sister had become so...non-Zith. But Scourge was not interested in talking anymore. She was back to fussing over the stick-man as if he were her own personal pet. Bewildered and concerned, Scorn could only watch, and hope that she would eventually understand, and convince Scourge to come back to her family.

[Dovinya]

As fortune would have it, the she-beast released him, and he was able to maintain the comforting link with the ground that he so needed right now. Adrenaline coursed through him with every pulse of his hammering heart, but he could still feel the dull ache his ankle was radiating, a troublesome discovery indeed. He certainly wouldn't be able to get away on his own, but could he really trust these creatures? True, he'd already met one of them, and Scourge seemed pleasant enough at the time, but that was back in Kalinor, in the enclosing protection of the temple and Viratas. Out here was another situation entirely, and one in which she--they held every advantage. There was little left to him than to be at their mercy. Why hadn't I become acquainted with a weapon first.. He could only uselessly muse as his heart rate reduced to an anxious flutter, and his foot pulsed with fresh, sharp pain that quickly made him forget the dull ache it had been before.

To make things worse, his silks were soaked with sweat, and the chill of the night was none to forgiving drawing painful shivers from him as his body struggled to keep warm. "My foot.." He moaned expressively through chattering teeth, clutching the offending leg as its jerky movements increased the pain considerably. "It useless to try walking on, so I won't get far without your help..." He looked purposefully at Scourge while he stated this, fearing to look at the she-beast whom had done this to him. It did occur to him though that Scourge could be just as unpredictable as that one, but for the present she was the lesser of two evils. "If you would my father would be most generous for your help.." It was a half-truth he hoped would go undetected, for while he was certain his father would reward them for his safe return, generously was stretching it a bit with regards to his tight purse strings. Perhaps they wouldn't even inquire for much beyond food and drink, he dared to hope as he stared anxiously at Scourge.

[Scorn]

Scorn tried to let her sister deal with the stick man, but it was no use. He was too frustrating. First he wanted her to put him down. Now he wanted her help. If she had her way she would kill him and eat him, or at least leave him to die. She knew Scourge would never forgive her if her pet prey creature was allowed to die, but Scorn was running out of the patience required to cater to her whims. This time, Scorn would be done with it. With a growl, Scorn lifted the Symenestra by his shoulders. Ignoring protests from both the injured prey creature and her sister, she flew at her top speed back to the cave they all (for now) called home. She did not care in the slightest how much it might be hurting him; this was the fastest way to get him back to his precious "Kalinor". When they reached the city, Scorn dumped the stick man on the first doorstep she could find. Scourge could take over from here, if her sister really cared that much about one slave. Scorn was done.