RP:The Hunter
The Torn Earth
Orikahn slinks through the opening of the mines at a low crouch, eyes darting brightly out from behind visor, from beneath the shade of his hood. Heavy armor hides much the formidable feline's body; all save for his twisting tail, ever dancing behind him. Clotted gore is dried all over him. His bow, though undrawn, stays knocked and at the ready. Kahn is hunting something.
Alvina drops her heavy pickaxe against the unyielding rock on the interior of the formation. The soft pant of her breath is audible as the stranger enters, soft but cautious emerald optics eye him curiously.
Orikahn perks up at the sound of the falling pickaxe, and he freezes where he stands, if only for a second, for he immediately crouches lower and dashes behind a boulder. Peeking from behind cover, now, Kahn begins drawing back the bowline, raising his weapon to sight down the arrow shaft and line up a shot--a shot that appears to be aimed for Alvina's heart.
Alvina shrieks in surprise, the pick axe clattering to the floor as fear lifts her metallic limb in front of her chest. Wild terror lights her eyes in the dim cavern. "What business do you have with me?" Her voice, small tremors of sound through the otherwise tense and quiet air surrounding.
Orikahn calls across the cavern in a deep basso that rumbles and echoes through the deep cave. "No, look out, behind you!" The cat calls in a warning tone. It is a ruse, however, meant only to distract Alvina from his snapping bow. Too fast to be seen, the arrow streaks toward her, with razor sharp flint ready to pierce her body.
Alvina turns with mild guilt to glance at the imagined enemy...only to find darkness. Before the thought sinks in completely that his call was a ruse, the arrow finds purchase in her outstretched arm, which only aided in slowing its path. The arrow struck with such speed and precision, it breaks through the other end of her limb to breech just the shallow layers of her chest. Dazed, the bard lets out a sharp cry and thuds back, sprawled out on the cave floor.
Orikahn wastes no time now with tricks and mischief. The beast's intentions are plain; he wants to kill her. With practiced speed and grace, he knocks a second arrow and stands fully upright, stepping out from behind the cover of the boulder and advancing toward Alvina, a massive black shadow between her and the light of the cave's opening, closing some of the many yards between them. He shoots again, the brightly colored feathers of his arrow little more than a blurred streak as it whistles toward her.
Alvina shakes her head in a dizzy confusion, the second arrow finds a solid home in her right (and completely flesh) arm as she tries to escape the sudden and terrifying assault. Without thought, the bard calls out for her master, long dead. "Cerinii!" Her voice echoes through the depths of the cave, her metal arm still pinned to her chest. Tears streak down the girl's face as she attempts to crawl away from the clearly superior foe. "Why are you trying to hurt me?" Her voice, a low whimper.
Orikahn feels a natural, predatory rush as the second arrow finds purchase in her flesh. He roars in deafening triumph. No longer concerned with silence, Kahn's armor rattles noisily as he climbs over the rocks and rubric toward her. "I'm sorry that it hurts." He apologizes with cruel, ironic sweetness. "I would have preferred to kill you painlessly. Your fear, you know," he makes an explaining gesture with his hand, "adversely affects your flavor." He pulls back his hood and removes his visor, revealing a fully feline head, complete with hung saber teeth. "Wait." He narrows his eyes. "What was that name? That you said just now?" He pounces at her, trying to grab her by whatever he can reach before she can get away. "What was that name!?"
Alvina shrieks again, closing her eyes against his swift approach and panting lightly as her blood begins to pool beneath the second arrow. "Cerinii! My teacher! My mother! Cerinii!" She continues to call, her voice becoming shrill from effort and the weight of his feline form atop her. Her eyes settle in teary uncertainty on his face, adrenaline floods through her, making her a bit bold. "Why are you trying to kill me?!" She screams, unruly and frightened.
Orikahn snarls viciously, a fierce fire lighting in his eyes. "Cerinii!?" His voice is crushingly loud, and his grip on her tightens. "Your mother. Graaah!" His voice breaks away into a roar of fury, and Kahn drives a fist down at the stone and gravel beside her. Snorting in disgust, he managed to calm himself, and he gets off of her, releasing the poor bard and rolling back onto his haunches. "I wanted to eat you, that's all." He wipes his head, rubbing a broad, pawlike hand down his face. "And now I can't."
Alvina trembles, watching her previously aggressive attacker roll back and speak after her ears settled from his roar. Caution laces her words, carefully she attempts to pull the feathers from her metallic left limb and wiggle the arrow head that grazed her chest. "What was she to you?"
Orikahn snaps his gaze toward Alvina again, fury and resentment lighting in his fierce, green eyes. His jaw tenses, and for a moment it looks like he could still eat her. Then, with a defeated sigh, his ears fall flat to his scull, and he gets up on his knees. "You're going to want help with those arrows." Kahn reaches in to try and assist her in removing them, assuming she allows it. "Your mother managed to get close to my heart. I learned to care about her," he takes a steadying breath, "and for that I have her. Even now, she is costing me a perfectly good meal. Do try to hold still. I don't want this to hurt." He wraps his hand around an arrow shaft, preparing to pull it out.
Alvina looked at Kahn with soft, understanding eyes as she held still at his command. Her teacher had been amazing, she knew. Cerinii had found love among so many creatures…the bard loved her dearly as well, though she had been years gone. “She married before…” Alvina bit her lip, bracing for the pain of the arrow and feeling nothing short of a fool for saying anything about the Avian. “…I’m sorry…that you hate her…but I can’t find it in my heart to be sorry that you are not eating me…” Sheepishly, the bard huffed and panted, doing her best to focus on the task and not loss her wits with her blood.
Orikahn jerks the arrow loose with a quick, firm tug, immediately dropping it with a clatter so he can grab her arm with both hands and apply proper pressure, pressing tightly to halt the bleeding. "If you tell her you met me, I might kill you still," Kahn warns her darkly. "So I encourage you to start working on a good story now." Up this close, the cat positively reeks of stale, rotten blood. The thick pads of his hands are surprisingly soft, save for the calluses his bow string has built. He avoids her gaze.
Alvina closes one eye, doing her best to stay still under his care. His words were very convincing, but she couldn't help but wonder if he knew she had departed the plane? He could have been eating her…if not for their binding love of the metal worker…. “There will be no one to tell the story to…” she whispered as she blinked the remaining tears from her eyes. Polish pools of emerald turned to try and meet his gaze. Something in her ached for him, ached for the love he showed so simply and so defiantly.
Orikahn gives a blast from his nostrils. "That's right. Good girl." Still holding the pressure tight on her wound, he looks around, and his ears rise a little from his skull, pointing attentively upward. The noise reveals itself to be nothing more than settling gravel, and he looks back to Alvina again, daring to study her face. "I could have guessed, should have, I mean, when I saw your arm. Did she make it for you?"
Alvina lowers her gaze in mild shame before answering. “Yes…I was abducted by a slaver…and I was no good without both my arms…and he took one in the act of my capture…” The occasional whimper breaks through her lips as waves of discomfort polish off the ebbing flow of adrenaline in her system. Her body throbbed; with her life, no longer seemingly, in danger called off the forces of pain relief and waves upon waves rolled into every muscle affected. The bard did her best to hide her discomfort. “…I became her apprentice after I obtained my freedom…and she looked after me as a Mother and Teacher…” A smile cocks her lips briefly; her love for the avian is palpable.
Orikahn feels his fur stand up a little higher with every whimper, shoulders tensing until he snaps his teeth at her with an impatient growl. "Control yourself! And your... pitiful noises. I've seen plenty of animals bleed more than you and live." His brows raise, impressed by unspoken memories. "And *fight*, hmmph." Carefully, he loosens his grasp and pulls his hand back, watching it for a few silent seconds. "There, that seems to have stopped. You should at least be able to get yourself to a healer." Green eyes shift to her other arm and the arrow through it. "And a mechanic. Do you need that one out too?"
Alvina does her best to stand while he scolds her. “No, I’m quite fine now….” She mutters, cradling both arms against her chest, her tone mildly indignant and yet, somehow, thankful. The bard wasn't much of a fighter; that was beyond plain from their brief encounter. Autumn tresses fell to curtain her eyes from view as she shuffled towards the exit of the cave to tend to her wounds and the reconstruction of her limb. At his inquiry for a mechanic, she snarled. “No one can touch this arm but me!” Her voice was passionate; tears dotted the corner of her eyes like a wounded child. The bard’s frame relaxed a bit, though still tense. “If we meet a second time, I will repay your kindness with a meal…though I would wager you prefer to kill things on your own…” Alvina wanted to say something, anything to make a connection to the feline but the whole affair was a roller coaster of things…and she just found herself missing people long gone.