Tagging:
@Summer :)
This actually takes place near in/near
Ankyra Sound.
When she set foot back onto claimed soil, no one came rushing forward to rebuke her for disappearing for two days. Junior sighed a breath of relief and wandered into the forest at the territory's edge, then slumped at the base of a towering sequoia. She chewed on the inside of her cheek a moment, then found her feet and began to roam aimlessly. She felt restless and she didn't want to deal with any of her thoughts right now. She needed to keep
busy.
After a time, she found herself loping along the forest's edge, near the borders. So far, she hadn't run into any of her pack mates, which was at once strange but a relief. She still wasn't sure they hadn't noticed her absence and might get angry at her. Little did Junior realize that there was nothing wrong with spending a night or two beyond the sound. It was her traitorous
thoughts that made her feel so guilty and apprehensive of reprimand.
Although the sight of a stranger inspired a strong protective instinct, Junior was actually happy and relieved for the distraction. Striding purposefully toward the stranger, she arched her neck, pricked her ears and hoisted her tail into the air. There was no room for misapprehension as she assumed dominance over the dark-pelted, bright-eyed interloper wandering almost mindlessly at the borders.
"You," she said, braking to a halt in front of him, eyes shrewd and critical. "Why are you so close to the sound? What is your business here?" Junior felt suddenly reconnected to her home and her guilt began to dissipate accordingly even as she defended it from this overly smiley gatecrasher.
Junior's turning into a giant dick... kind of like her Grandma Mo! :D
The stranger looked at her vacantly, that same idiotic grin still on his face, and Junior's lips twitched downward. Was he some kind of imbecile? When he opened his mouth to speak, it only drove home this impression. A sneer crept onto her face, especially when she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to treat males like they were totally beneath her.
"The sound as in Ankyra Sound, the pack land right behind me. Are you some kind of moron?" she demanded.
"If you don't have business here, get out," she added in a dangerous tone, her chest puffing and the black fur along her nape prickling.
Junior didn't expect his response, though before she could let it disarm her or otherwise take her off her guard, she realized that he was teasing her. She felt a bolt of anger pierce her heart, heating her blood. Now was her chance to really tap into and exercise some of the Nereides' core beliefs.
"Don't sass me, male," she said, feeling both satisfied and disgusted by her own condescending words. "No man's business is worth my time," she snapped with a lash of her tail, moving forward and crowding him in an effort to get him to turn tail and leave.
Short post is short! *dials up the mega!bitch* :c
"Don't talk to me like I'm a child, pig." The words slipped from her tongue without premeditated thought, sharp as daggers and tipped with poison. Her two-toned eyes bored into his face. At least he'd stopped smiling at her.
"No, I won't be all right until you get out. Your kind isn't welcome here. Leave!"
*dials up the mega-overwhelmed-awkward-boy* c:
So he was a pig now? The young Ostrega stared at her, completely lost for what was going on. He'd had it for a moment--that one moment in which he had turned to leave. But it was gone, and now he was stuck there by confusion and the desire to make sense of what was happening (even though that was probably beyond him, as muddled as his brain was by the drugs and all). When had he spoken to her like she was a child? Why was his kind not welcome? Because he was a guy? Or because he was a pig? What did they have against pigs at this Ankle-biter Sound or whatever the hell she'd called it? ....was he actually, literally a pig?
Summer shook his head hard to try and clear his thoughts, recognizing that he was losing hold of them even though he didn't quite have control of the fingers that held them in place. "I don't.. I don't get it," he found himself saying, his ears sliding back apologetically as he tried to find the words he wanted to say to her, to make her explain, to make her feel better, to make her eyes stop blinking at him like strobe lights.
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He said he didn't get it. She had now told him to leave, in no uncertain terms, three times. He must really be some kind of moron. Maybe all men really are retards, Junior found herself thinking, her impatience reaching critical mass. Well, if he couldn't understand her words, he wouldn't be able to misinterpret her actions.
With a loud growl, she lunged, aiming to take hold of the male's scruff. If she succeeded in grasping it, she would forcibly drag him away from the sound's outlands. If he resisted or otherwise fought her, Junior would unleash her Warrior side on him without mercy. Maybe if she wounded or even killed him, that would elevate her in the eyes of the Nereides.
Assuming she lets him go...!
Her actions took Summer completely by surprise, even though any fool could have seen it was coming. Each button he pressed on the young woman was completely unintentional, but had he had his clear head on, he would have known much better than to keep poking or to ever have poked at all. Then again, if he'd had his usual head on, he never would have been there in the first place.
He scrambled frantically backwards as she threw herself at him, barely avoiding getting himself trapped in her jaws. "Alright, ALRIGHT," he barked at her as he attempted to get away from her, pausing his effort only to fix her with one last bewildered stare and a "What is wrong with you?" before turning and dashing off in the direction of the Sunspire--the world spinning frighteningly out of control around him.
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I decided to edit my formerly read only post in here. :)
She managed neither. He slipped from her grasp and the situation
finally seemed to really register with him. Junior showed her teeth as he backpedaled away from her, then spun and scrambled away. She loped after him a ways, stopping only when he led her far outside the sound. Soon, he became a black splotch in the distance before disappearing altogether.
"Stupid, idiotic man!" she shouted after him, nodding decisively as if to punctuate her words. Junior wondered if any of her would-be sisters were watching or listening. She hoped so. She might not have sacrificed him but she'd definitely played the role expected of her. She was a bona fide feminist now, well on her way to Amazonian status.
She strode back toward the sound, proud as a rooster. Yet once she reached the borders and trekked back into the woods, her pompous demeanor deserted her abruptly. Junior stopped in a sliver of September sunlight and her ears tilted uncertainly even as her tail wilted. She thought back on what she'd just done, how she'd behaved, and a feeling of disgust crept over her. The faces of her father, her brother and Dante flashed through her head in rapid succession. Suddenly, she was retching on her own forepaws.
I can't do this, she thought between heaves.
I can't do this. As she vomited, it was as if her desire to be part of the sisterhood was flushed out too. She couldn't live in a society that was called upon to treat males this way. She just couldn't. She'd made a huge mistake in joining the Nereides so quickly and blindly pledging to their cause. She couldn't go forward but she couldn't go back either. Junior felt like the despair would choke her even as a sob wrenched its way loose from her burning, tightening throat.
She shot a glance over her silky black shoulder, her eyes streaming, then stepped over the puddle of sick and fled. She did not look back as she crossed the sound's freshly-laid borders and galloped inland. She headed toward neither the bay nor the plateau. With nowhere to turn, Junior instead ran in the direction of the unknown wildernesses beyond her homeland.