RP:Aerial Grabs and Tummy Stabs

From HollowWiki

Part of the Thy Kingdom Come Arc



Summary: Aira chases Orikahn into the wilderness after the latter escapes from prison. The elf attempts to ambush the feline, but her plan turns against her as Kahn manages to snag her in his clutches. In a moment of desperation, Aira stabs herself in an attempt to force Kahn's hand and draw him back to town so she can receive treatment. Instead, Orikahn brings her back to his lodge and treats her there, and the two have a moment to talk.


Various Tracks

Orikahn has a considerable head start, and even at her fastest, it will take Aira some time to catch up with the renegade ranger. Still, if anyone were to track him down, his elven associate is a fine bet. Far outside the city, the cat still flees at a gallop, but his pace is slowing. As his fear begins subsiding, his adrenaline begins to wear off, and he can feel his long, hungry days in the prison cage beginning to catch up with him. Wondering if he can safely rest yet, the feline risks a glance back, his trioptic gaze flashing briefly over his shoulder as he bumbles ahead, letting his gallop relax some.


Aira had sprinted from the prison and did not let up, knowing that Orikahn was running full force. Aira had spent enough time with the primehunter to know he wouldn’t head towards the tavern or even his lodge, but he would at least move towards the west. The huntress was thankful she had started eating again, gaining her strength back. She was also appreciative of the unwelcome nature of the tavern as of lately so she had spent most of her time out hunting. She was able to maintain a decent speed for sometime, using snowtracks to help her remain on course. Her heart slammed against her chest and there was a stitch in her side as her breathing was labored. Her fast pace seemed successful, though, for she thought she saw a large form looming up ahead.


Orikahn narrows his eyes against the glaring snow. Could it be? For several seconds he lingers, panting, trying to discern for certain whether or not he had been pursued. That distant speck, surely not, he tells himself. It seems so unlikely that he'd be up against a lone pursuer. Where was that pack of giants now? Feeling more tired by the second, even as he rests, the cat pushes onward, trying to at least reach the treeline before this figure, whatever it may be, can reach him. As he begins moving again, the wind changes, and something catches his nose. Aira? His jaw tenses, and he hopes against it, for he can scarcely imagine a more difficult or unpredictable adversary.

Aira stumbled slightly in the snow, falling down to one knee and cursing under her breath. The wind was blowing hard and the snow made it that much harder for the huntress to run, knocking her off course. Aira was not a religious person but she found herself praying to whatever deity was up there that the figure up ahead was Kahn and not another frost giant vigilante. As their direction shifted she let out a relieved sigh when she saw the distant treeline; she would be able to move faster there. She broke off from her pursuit then, heading towards the nearest tree instead of the man she was following. As soon as she hit the bark she began to scale it, too afraid to slow down in case she lost her nerve. Once she was high enough she stilled for a moment, convinced if it was Kahn, he would seek the shelter of the woods. She waited to pick up his movements with her sylvan hearing and only then would she begin to jump from limb to limb to continue her pursuit.


Frozen Trees

Orikahn breaks past the treeline and, after a moment to catch his breath, cannot resist the opportunity to snag a meal. When Aira catches up with Kahn, she will discover him face first in a little red starburst in the snow, ripping apart a now-unrecognizable pile of entrails, hurriedly pulling off stringy mouthfulls, his muzzle red with gore. Some stray sound catches his ear, and he snaps his head up, listening eagerly for a moment, eyes narrowed in alert suspicion. He gathers up the remainder of the carcass in his mouth and turns toward the clearest path south, eager to get back into the familiar wilds.


There. Aira had heard Kahn and she was off, jumping from branch to branch as she went, doing her best not to make too much noise. She was thankful for the wind, hoping the feline would take any noise she made as the elements. It took her some time but she spotted him feasting on some type of critter; crouching down to get a better look. When he snapped his head up, Aira quickly retreated against the trunk of the tree, hoping she wouldn’t be spotted. The high elf’s wish was granted as Kahn seemed to see nothing and began to move back towards his path. Aira didn’t actually have a plan and was simply running on instinct; it was perhaps for that reason the huntress launched herself out of the tree in the hopes of landing on the primehunter and sending them both to the ground.


Orikahn hears an odd sound on the wind, and he turns just in time for Aira to come sailing into him. Recognizing the elf, his first instinct in simple: catch her. So he shall, too, if she can be caught. "Gmmph!" Is the most he can articulate around the animal in his mouth, and he staggers a bit, having to put a foot out to compensate for her momentum. He spits his bloody mouthful in the snow, and there is a moment enough for the two to exchange glances before he snarls, his blood-smeared face contorting ferociously. "Start talking."


Aira oofed as she found herself caught by Orikahn as opposed to them flailing to the ground. She huffed in annoyance, the huntress narrowing her copper gaze up at him as the two stared each other down. Aira scrunched up her nose as he spat the bloody carcass on the ground, splatterings of blood littering her face. “Me start talking?! -YOU- start talking! You can’t run away!” She shouted back, equally as ferocious.


Orikahn clenches his teeth, ever impressed by Aira's stubborn temerity. "I already have," he's quick to point out, his growling basso ripping through the air, "and make no mistake, I was ready to die, at one hand or another. Escape was never my plan." The cat snaps down at the elf, a moment of pain showing before ferocity redoubles to dominate his expression, and his tone. "Are you here to kill me now?" His claws slide out to sting her wherever they touch, their needle-sharp tips poking through to bite at her skin. The three eyed cat glares. "I said talk, or by whatever merciless god that rules our stars, so help me..."


Aira slipped her expressionless mask into place, refusing to show Orikahn anything other than pure anger seething through her every expression. Even as claws came out, poking through her fur lined clothes and digging into her flesh. It stung, but she made no move to pull away from his grip. “So what if I am?” She whispered in a dangerously low voice. “What will you do Kahn? Your Queen is gone, dead with Hildegarde. What will you do with me? Kill me? Have my skull be the starting point on a new belt?”


Orikahn flexes, and his herculean musculature leaps to life beneath his cloak, and Aira will feel him tighten around her, if only because he is tensing. "Don't be a fool!" Kahn reprimands her. "Testing me, you brat. I could have ripped you limb from limb and been neck deep in you blood by now," he hisses, "and don't think I couldn't use the strength. I know you, Aira." His tone lowers for emphasis. "I know you. Say it to me. Look me in the eyes. Tell me if you're here to kill me so I can finish you and be through with it." Withough realising it, his face has bent closer, and she can feel his hot breath on her nose, lips, and cheeks, can smell the hot blood on his breath. "Damn you, following me this way! I gave you a life! You could have been happy. I gave you my home! Why now! Like this!"


Aira furrowed her eyebrows as Kahn’s grip tightened, drops of blood dripping from her arms as his claws dug into her skin. She recoiled slightly as he bent near her face, his hot breath on her skin and the smell of blood causing her to crinkle her nose. She snarled slightly as attempted to pull free from his grasp to no avail. Lips thinning she clenched her jaw and spoke through her teeth, “I am here to bring you back, to make sure you aren’t killed without a trial!” A loud huff, “You talk of how I could have been happy? I was happy! When we went out hunting, when you taught me to butcher a mare.” Another attempt to wrench free. “Tell me, what did your Queen do for you? Gave you power briefly...for what? She is -gone-.” Aira suddenly smirked. “I may be a brat but you were nothing but a domesticated housecat to your Savage Queen. How does it feel now?” It was the first time the paid had spoken to one another since their imprisonment that was not behind bars. The huntress had been stewing in her heart and anger with Kahn’s betrayal and she had spent a lot of time harping over what she would say. Aira didn’t care how angry her words made him, he deserved it, even if she didn’t want him dead.


Orikahn listens keenly, his eyes in direct contact with hers, reading her, following her words keenly as a wolf follows a scent's trail, and when at last she moves on the verbal offensive, he can take an earnest breath. How does it feel, she asks? "Testing me. Testing me." The fury in his eyes fades, like a fever broken. His claws retract, and the cat sets her on her feet in the snow. "I don't expect you to understand." Kahn wipes the blood from his muzzle on the inside of his arm. "How could you," he laughs into his arm, "when I was in the thick and couldn't understand it myself. I don't know what will become of my life. It's good enough that yours doesn't end here." He sighs, or maybe he's catching his breath, and he drops to one knee to pluck the animal carcass back up out of the snow. "Don't ask me how it feels. You can guess."


When Kahn finally let her go she pulled back, shrugging her shoulders and shaking out her arms. “I always test you. It’s what I do,” she spat back. It was true, the high elf always being stubborn and brash. Still, she breathed out a heavy sigh, trying to calm herself down. After a new moments, she decided she could go on without shouting. “You need to come back Kahn, you don’t have a choice.” She wasn’t sure he had still been around when Leone had bid Aira to bring him back so the huntress opted not to mention it at this time.


Orikahn resumes eating the animal, talking through his mouthfulls. "No good." He answers honestly. "I'm out now," he tugs another long, stringy line of bloody tissue off the bones, "and what will you do? Bring me back? So what? So Leone can put me in custody and deny the giants my execution?" He hadn't missed their conversation at the prison entrance. "You nearly died the last time they thought you were in league with me. If you come back and don't deliver me into their hands, what do you think those giants will do to you?" He shakes his head and chokes down a fair mouthful, swallowing noisily. "Your only choice is to head back alone. Unless," he raises his brows, tilting his head to the side, "you stay in the wilds with me. I think," his three eyes slide up to her, "if I know you well, you'll go back to the city without me."


Aira turned her head to gag slightly as Kahn ate his animal, that was something she could never get used to. She turned her head once more to train her copper eyes on him, her hands finding her hip as she sighed indignantly. “Yes I did almost die...because of you, Kahn. Because I was the one who was with you these past few months. You think your Queen was with you? She used you! I was the one to work with you and help you and this…” She stopped herself by biting her tongue. She huffed again. What was she going to want to do? “I don’t want to shoot you, Kahn,” she finally admitted.


Orikahn stiffens as Aira's hand finds her hip, and he pauses eating his animal, ready to pounce forward like a bullet and tackle her. The same tissue that held this groundhog's ribs together is the same tissue that hold's Aira's throat to her body, she might be reminded. "Shoot me, Aira?" His eyes flare dangerously, and he crawls a pace closer, closing the already narrow gap between them. "By the time you've drawn your bow, I'll have pinned you to the ground and wrenched your head from your shoulders. Don't be a fool, and forget your idiotic heroics." The murderous behemoth rears again. "Aira." Mania flares in his eyes. "If you wish to use my connection to the Queen to manipulate me, you are misguided. I have had more than enough time to understand the nature of my former Goddess and her relationship to myself. So listen," the cat lowers his tone to a whisper, stalking close to the elf, keeping the distance between them very slight indeed, letting her feel the thrumming energy of his presence. "Flee far and fast. Lie. Tell them I evaded you. Say I was nowhere to be seen. Say there was nothing to be done and you *wish* you could have brought my head back." Padded paws carry him ever after her, giving her no opportunity to slip away, and she can nearly feel the heat of his body, of his beating heart at the massive, mighty predator turns the tables, turning the pursuer into the pursued. "This is your last threat. And *my* last threat. Flee, elf. Flee. Flee." His lips curl menacingly as he presses ever closer. "Flee."


Aira glared hard at Orikahn as he continued to stalk her, moving closer to limit the space between them. Her almond shaped eyes were nearly slits as she watched him move silently. “Heroics?!” She asked him incredulously. “You think this is about heroics? I am doing this because you are my -friend-, a concept I understand you know -nothing- about, and I don’t want you to get killed by some frost giants unfairly.” As he lowered his voice and moved to be nearly upon her she scowled at his words, his instructions for her to flee. The huntress mimicked him, dropping her voice lower to match his although not in pitch, of course. “Men have been telling me what to do my entire life, bossing me around and trying to control me. I will not let you be one of them, Kahn.” If she was going to die here in the woods she would die trying and making a stupid decision as was her way. So with her sylvan grace she drew the blade from the sheath at her hip and plunges it...into the flesh of her own stomach. Blood immediately began to stain her hands and the snow beneath her feet. “Decision time, Kahn. Take me back to the fort to get healed, or leave me here to die. Your fellow hunter, your packmate you promised to protect.”

Orikahn curses aloud. "Idiot! Fool! Counfounded creature!" The bright red of her blood spilling on the snows is certainly not the outcome he expected, and the feline has no choice. Before she can even crumple from the shock of blood loss, he has scooped her up. "You win," he lies, counting on her delirium from blood loss to distract her as he scoops her into his arms, "you get your way." Plucking her blade from her hands, if she allows it, he tucks it back into her sash, stowing it easily as he carries her south, not north, to aid her wounds where he best can. It would be a risky move taking her back to his lodge, especially when they're out looking for him, but it was a risk Kahn was willing to take. "You win. You win." He keeps telling her as he hauls her towards his woodland retreat, toward his home and the resources there waiting them. This wound wasn't beyond his skill...

Aira didn’t intend to plunge the knife that deep within her belly but it seemed that with her adrenaline she was a bit too enthusiastic. She was losing blood quickly and it showed on her paling face. Her knees grew weak but she found herself scooped up by Kahn before she collapsed into the snow. Aira did nothing to stop the feline from wrenching the knife from her bloodied hands and was thankful he did nothing more than sheath it. This hurt much more than she thought, her hand coming to press against her abdominal wound as she is jostled with Kahn’s movements. She vaguely heard the insults but they didn’t do anything to her, but the comments of her winning drew a weak smile, of all things, on her lips. “That’s...better…” she finally mutters out.

Orikahn joins her hand with his, and puts very firm pressure on her abdominal wound as he rushes her away. A good thing he ate. He's going to need his old strength to make it to his lodge in time...


Hunter's Lodge

Orikahn doesn't know much, but he knows what it takes to survive, and some of that knowledge applies vicariously. When Aira regains her senses, she will will have a mossy wound on her belly. Kahn will be tenderly caring the fire, and he'll be eyeing Aira's condition. No doubt, once she's opened her eyes again, it won't be long before he notices.


Aira had faded out somewhere on the journey, the loss of blood and pain proving too much for the huntress. When her eyes finally fluttered open she found herself staring at a familiar ceiling. She cursed internally, she was hoping he would head back towards town instead of the lodge--in truth she hadn’t even thought of that option. She remained quiet without stirring, thinking of her next move. Eventually she shifted her gaze to catch the feline tending the fire. This whole situation was all too familiar, reminding her of the time after Kahn had shot her in the shoulder and had brought her to his tent. Slowly she let her head fall back to look at the ceiling once more. Damn her stomach hurt.


Orikahn notices the hunteress's eyes, and a quiet look of satisfaction enters his eyes, despite his humble tending. Once the fire is on its feet, the cat takes a wooden bowl over to the elf. "You're tired," he tells her, "and your need your strength." Raising the wooden bowl, gently, he scoots a little closer and, if she allows it, tips a single mouthful of the bowl's contents between her lips. Her palate may recognize it; it may not. It is raw blood, full of strength and vigor, and she may swallow it if she wishes, if it passes her lips.


Aira scrunched up her nose in frustration when Orikahn mentioned her trying. Damn that cat. She turned her head to look at him as he scooted closer and went to offer her a spoonful of whatever was in that wooden bowl of his. “Why aren’t I dead? Weren’t you threatening my life out in the woods earlier?” Aira huffed again and winced at the pain in her stomach, her slender fingers moving down by the wound to feel that familiar moss--the same he used on her shoulder. For whatever reason, probably the blood loss, she allowed the contents of the spoon to move past her lips and immediately gagged, slapping her hand over her mouth before forcing herself to swallow the blood. “What the hell, Kahn?!”


Orikahn gives Aira her moment to gag and curse. He had hoped better of her, but grins fondly nonetheless. "I could have smoked you by now. You're alive because you mean something to me." He hesitates with the bowl, ready to tip more down her throat but sensing, somehow, that she might need a moment before another mouthful. "Your life is more precious to me than food you're made of." He ended in a preposition, true, but Kahn isn't concerned with such subtleties. His meaning is clear. "Now are you going to drink another mouthful and gain your strength back, or are you going to die under my watchful eye?" His three brows raise. "You'll have no one to blame but yourself." Carefully, the cat tips the bowl closer.


Not many things left Aira speechless, but Kahn’s words did just that. Her mouth fell open slightly and she quickly closed it. Did the prime hunter have a fever? Could felines -get- fevers? She was pretty sure he had one after he was attacked in graveyard out west. “Who are you and what have you done with Orikahn?” She asked suspicious as she shifted once more with a groan, her hand moving to her stomach once more. When he instructed her to drink another spoonful of blood she scrunched up her nose once more, “And why do I need to do this?” She did, however, take another spoonful, swallowing with another gag.


Orikahn is grateful to see the elf taking down nourishment, despite the gagging, and he pulls the bowl back, not about to force more on the elf than she can take. "Try to take it easy." The massive feline advises her. "I need you to recover quickly, or the giants will be here. Or worse." A frown overtakes his expression. "Leone. Rest. Drink. Mend. Please." Hoping she is ready, he tips one more mouthful toward her lips, counting on her swallowing it before he sets the bowl back down away from the fire pit. "Kahn is the same as he always was. Don't doubt me now. Or I'll have to eat you."


Aira was still confused by his one word pronouncements. The mention of the giants coming caused her to tilt her head to the side, a curious expression on her face, and the longer tresses of her platinum hair spilling across her shoulder. “Huh, I shot the one in the jail today,” she said as if she had just remembered it. As he tipped the bowl she made a disgusted face, one that a child might give their parent who is force feeding them vegetables. Groaning slightly she accepted the blood without gagging this time, though it left a sour look on her face. “You won’t eat me, you just said my life it more precious than the food I’m made of, or something like that.” A small smile. “Nice try.”


Orikahn narrows his eyes. "I'll still kill you for spite if I have to," the cat jeers with a smile, grinning from between his saber teeth. "Stabbing yourself! Did you really have to go through all that?" This time he sets the bowl down in earnest, letting Aira digest what she's taken. "Mad creature. Stubborn devil!" He frowns pointedly, and Aira can nearly *feel* the third eye boring into her, even in the Savage Queen's absence. "You're still a fool, and I won't forget that," his basso rumbles. "Recover well. That's the best you can do for me. If you still care." A smirk bends his lips again, if for a moment.


“And if you kill me for spite, I’ll shoot you,” she stated matter-of-factly. When he began to chastise her for stabbing herself she shrugged her shoulders and smiled innocently. “I thought about stabbing you,” she admitted. “Maybe I stabbed myself because I wanted to see if you cared about me after all,” she said quietly. As she felt that third eye practically bore into her soul she held up her hand to block the view. “That eye really creeps me out, by the way.” She sighed, “I know I’m a fool. I’m also annoyingly stubborn, fiercely independent, brash…” The high elf kept count on her fingers. “I know I’ve been called them all.” Aira didn’t say anything about still caring, because she did. Damn that cat.


Orikahn reaches up to gently rub his his third eye. Frankly, he'd forgotten it was there. "This isn't a clean slate," the feline warns her, ignoring her finger count. "Whatever you did, you're half dead in my lodge now, and that's that." Not about to press the issue further, Orikahn stands, stretches, and looks around for some extra wolfskins. Winter nights in Frostmaw are cold, even inside, even with a fire, even with fur on your back, and Orikahn isn't about to waste his life shivering. Laying a couple skins over Aira, he bundles up beneath his cloak and scoots a bit closer to the fire. "There's no time to give you any lessons tonight. Rest. It's more blood, as soon as your stomach can handle it."


“I’m not half dead!” Aira objected immediately, “I’m...fine,” she nodded her head completely ignoring the paleness of her cheeks and the excruciating pain in her stomach. Copper eyes trailed Kahn as he moved about the lodge, nodding appreciatively as he draped some skins over her body. “What lessons?” She asked before audibly gagging for effect at the mention of more blood.


Orikahn slides his eyes over to Aira, giving her a very dry look before setting in comfortably himself. "Don't think I taught you everything I know," the cat retorts, pulling out a long-neglected winesking of grog and taking a spicy swig. His first instinct is to offer some to Aira, but he quickly remembers her condition and stops the container, tucking it back into his cloak. "It's the middle of the night." He mutters, looking up through the small vent in the ceiling at the tiny patch of stars above.


Aira followed his gaze up through the vent to peer at the stars for a moment. This was going to be a long night--she was -not- a back sleeper. As she thought of all the lessons he had taught her thus far. “I’m a butchering pro now,” she suddenly remembered, thinking of all the game she had taken care of, most of them here at Kahn’s lodge. “You would be proud of me,” she chuckled before finally closing her eyes, shifting slightly and wincing in pain. Stupid stomach wound.