04-23-2025, 01:30 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-23-2025, 01:48 AM by Aristomenes.)
Night Hunter was swift, and he left few traces. Perhaps fewer, with the logic of the dream. With every moment he became more private Luektra, who needed no rank to be happy. Clothes darkened and sprouted magazines. A helmet flashed in and out of existence, as he both forgot and remembered that his nose gave him more than the HUD. But weapons, always the weapons. And a light step.
For a moment, he lost Night Hunter, but for the snap of a twig, or a rustle of leaves. He told him with these playful games that if he could not follow, he didn't deserve to find what he was looking for. Northwards, forever. In a bound he leapt the crimea, and Ari lost him for a split second behind a stand of hills obstructing the Azov river valley.
He caught him standing stock still overlooking Moscow, the forests blanketing the city like a cocoon, the life giving river splitting the formation. Ari grinned, joyously predatory, having won the game. You give up too soon. Such a friend sleeps hungry. But then his nostrils flared. The woods were alive with kin. They seethed with packs. Ari inhaled sharply. A few times before, he had smelled a pack. But the Army was his first master. Now he buffeted about, this way and that, without him. Night Hunter sent a potent image, of Ari running an open plain, with the countless multitude. They rounded the crest of the hill like a sea. And another scent too, kin, but human.
Aris brows furrowed. He hadn't met another before.Who is she? It's not that simple for us.Confused, he sent back the same image of the wider pack. And then trotted haughtily in her direction. Ari stepped lightly as ever. Whoever it was, he wanted the jump. Only a fool wouldn't, for Ari wanted to be ready to meet his first predator in this strange world. Perhaps he had smelled one for the first time. Night Hunter mocked his suspicion as he sank into the brush like a ghost.
He could be right, thought Ari. It was no use wanting a pack if, as a scared rabbit runs to the burrow, he hides from everything interesting. That it might be a threat was no excuse. They had doubled back, taking great, stealthy leaps, this time southwest, until they chased her. If she can smell like me, then she will know I am here.
For a moment, he lost Night Hunter, but for the snap of a twig, or a rustle of leaves. He told him with these playful games that if he could not follow, he didn't deserve to find what he was looking for. Northwards, forever. In a bound he leapt the crimea, and Ari lost him for a split second behind a stand of hills obstructing the Azov river valley.
He caught him standing stock still overlooking Moscow, the forests blanketing the city like a cocoon, the life giving river splitting the formation. Ari grinned, joyously predatory, having won the game. You give up too soon. Such a friend sleeps hungry. But then his nostrils flared. The woods were alive with kin. They seethed with packs. Ari inhaled sharply. A few times before, he had smelled a pack. But the Army was his first master. Now he buffeted about, this way and that, without him. Night Hunter sent a potent image, of Ari running an open plain, with the countless multitude. They rounded the crest of the hill like a sea. And another scent too, kin, but human.
Aris brows furrowed. He hadn't met another before.Who is she? It's not that simple for us.Confused, he sent back the same image of the wider pack. And then trotted haughtily in her direction. Ari stepped lightly as ever. Whoever it was, he wanted the jump. Only a fool wouldn't, for Ari wanted to be ready to meet his first predator in this strange world. Perhaps he had smelled one for the first time. Night Hunter mocked his suspicion as he sank into the brush like a ghost.
He could be right, thought Ari. It was no use wanting a pack if, as a scared rabbit runs to the burrow, he hides from everything interesting. That it might be a threat was no excuse. They had doubled back, taking great, stealthy leaps, this time southwest, until they chased her. If she can smell like me, then she will know I am here.