The Eye of the Storm (Oni)

[tempest]

[atrb=width,475,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=fafffc] It was frightening to him, how disorganized the herd was. The leader of the Bellator was missing in action and there was no appointed second or even a third to reign in the lower ranks. It frustrated him to the core. He believed a good leader would have planned for his eventual passing, would have set up measures to protect the herd, and could have at least informed someone that he intended to leave. It was so fool hardy of the Philp person that led them, he was starting to consider his past tense intentional now, it made his stomach curl. In his old herd this sort of behavior would have been intolerable, the offender promptly thrust in the way of the nearest lion or hunter, whichever came first. However, he thought with a soft sigh, he was not back with his old herd nor was he with his fiancé, who he still loathed to consider an ex. There was still the lingering feelings of an old attraction clouding his mind. He should move on and find a mate, he knew that was what a smart male would do but yet, yet he couldn’t bring himself to fall for another. Every time he even looked over at another female he’d subconsciously find himself comparing them to his almost wife. They never had her spark however and it made him move on to the next girl without them ever knowing he’d even considered them. It seemed the females found him to be too aloof and cold for a relationship yet were all too eager to spend the day in his company. Shifting into his human form mid-stride he considered it, was his charm the cold type? He didn’t think so. It was not his fault that idle gossip made him scoff and that his trust was not earned that quick, he was merely raised not to indulge in such idle fancies. He’d done it once and look where it had gotten him, captured by the vile keepers and stuck in a place where order seemed to have fallen into chaos. Examining his hands for any still persistent signs of the obscene human words that his once guardian had written on the night of his capture, Tempest wondered how his new herd had not yet caved into the pressure of being surrounded by predators yet. They had no one to tell them everything was fine, that horse had long disappeared and most of the Bellator were not accustomed to being hunted. He’d spoken with a few, well more than a few but the exact number was pretty irrelevant, and he’d discovered that some of them had been raised by humans in pens of some sort to be ridden. He found the whole thing deeming to the creatures and so kept from revealing the fact he’d ridden horses before as well. He supposed that being forced to carry around lazy humans was a better fate then being hunted by them at least. Closing his hazel eyes, Tempest thought on those days. He’d hated humans so much back then and now, now he was half of one. He still had a dislike of them, even though he’d loved one and though he possessed the form of one. Tempest just wondered how they managed to make such beautiful things while being the only animal species to delight in the killing of it’s own. Still he walked closer to the small and isolated patch of trees in the very form he so loved and loathed. The place had become a haunt of his lately. Like in the way most men would stake out a bar every night, Tempest would come to the trees nearly every day. He hadn’t exactly told anyone what he disappeared to do everyday but that was no matter. He would hate for anyone to see him prancing about in his shift, let alone have them know that he came to the trees to scratch intricate designs in the bark. It was something both destructive and stunning, a mind boggling contradiction for the Giant Sable Antelope. He felt such pity for the tree he was scarring up and still he found himself addicted to the way the spirals and shapes seemed to have a life of their own. It was a bad habit and he tried to stop but somehow he found himself always at the foot of the same tree. However as he thought with a huff, he usually did not end up yanked upwards by the foot, hanging from a length of rope. Tempest was unfazed for the most part, years of living in a places were getting shot at was retinue had made surprises perfectly boring. So as he hung ungracefully from the tree limb, still swaying slightly from the initial movement. Smoothing down the wrinkles in his shirt and adjusting his tie, Tempest surveyed his surroundings. It was unlikely that he would be able to reach up long enough to untie his leg and he was carrying no weapons, that meant he must do it. He must find someone to help him. The mere idea of having a follow herd member see him in such a vulnerable position was making him sick but it only made him feel worse to be caught that way in his human form. Still he couldn’t stop the hope that arose in his chest when his eyes landed upon a sleeping form. “Hello? I didn’t mean to disturb you but I’m in need of some assistance and I’d be eternally grateful to you if you would just help me.” He called out, just hoping that the creature would have the heart to help him. Occ: ICKY TABLE IS ICKY! XD Sorry for the wait Soy.

[/size]
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table][/center]

[Oni]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,500,true]

[atrb=background,i34.tinypic.com/ddfbkx.jpg] Oni knew she should be frustrated and frightened at the lack of leader, but she just couldn’t find it in herself. Every time she turned a worried mind to their MIA alpha, she found her thoughts drifting to other places in the Menagerie. Others may call it a hell and a trap, but to her it was more of a freedom. All day long she roamed about in her shift, all day long. It was outstanding! She’d forgotten just how good fresh grass tasted, and what it felt like to get a good roll when her back itched. The thing she’d missed the most in the past few years, though, was running. She felt like some sort of winged creature when she ran, however cliché that may be; she felt that nothing could catch her. The mare was dozing lazily under a tree, her sleep light and dreamless. This was a rarity; too often she was taunted with dreams of her old herd. Oni refused to acknowledge the heaviness of her stomach as ‘guilt,’ as she had written that (along with many other emotions) off as “stupid human feelings.” Truthfully, she felt all too responsible for the fate of her old herd, which she was no longer able to affect. That was the downside of being in the Menagerie. She’d left her isolated island on a mission, and would now never be able to finish it. Oni tried not to dwell on this too often. It was a wonder that she didn’t wake when the man was snared and flipped upside down, but she did rouse at his call. Her head flew up and her nostrils flared, expanding to test the air for danger while an ear swiveled toward him. She’d missed most of his words, but judging from the current scents he wasn’t telling her that a cougar was about to attack. The only out of the ordinary thing she could spot was that he was dangling from a rope. A grumpy Oni flattened her ears against her poll; he’d woken her up to tell her he was in a tree? From what she could gather, he wanted her help. She was considering turning her rump to him and continuing on with her nap, but a small, ever-pestering voice in her head jabbered on. That would make it impossible for her to sleep. It was for that reason, of course, that she began walking grudgingly towards him. As she neared, she exchanged a sour attitude for caution. He might seem harmless (and helpless), stuck up in the tree as he was, but she had no way of knowing if this was just a clever trap. Oni pressed her nose into his hair and whuffed*. At finding nothing but a strong Bellator scent, the muscles in her chest and legs visibly relaxed. She cast a gaze towards the rope wrapped around his ankle, tilting her head slightly. She had no problem with helping a fellow hooved retromorph, as she’d accepted them all as her herd mates. “What are you doing?” Oni asked mildly, frowning as she saw the complicated knot and the lack of a rope somewhere on the other side of the tree. Who had set this up, anyway? And how? The appaloosa’s carefully blank expression transformed into a glare as she realized just what she had to do get him down. She normally had no problem helping other Bellator. It was a different story when she had to shift. Not bothering to ask for his consent, she sat back on her hind quarters and rose up in a rear, catching one of her legs around one of his. She shifted quickly, before she pulled the whole tree branch down with her weight. In her human form, her arms were wrapped around one of his legs and her feet dangled a couple feet from the ground. “Excuse me, pardon me,” She recited, lifting her knees up and gripping him with them around his middle. She then used her arms to pull her torso as far up his leg as she was able to go without repositioning her legs. It was quite the awkward position, but Oni had never been one for respecting sensitive areas on the human body. Keeping one hand on his leg, she raised the other to the knot. It was sort of like a noose, she thought. Unpleasant visuals and theories as to why this rope was here came to mind, and she was sorry she’d made the observation. It only made her long fingers work faster, pulling and twisting and coaxing the knot out. It was showing signs of becoming undone, which Oni thought was enough progress for a break. She hugged his lower thigh and glanced down, her intention to examine his expression to see if she was holding his torso too tightly with her knees, but she didn’t make it that far. The knot had been loosened up considerably, and, left with just a few simple twists, gave in to the weight of the woman and man. It released him, and they both crashed to the ground. Oni was too surprised to worry about how to break the fall, and ended up smashing a shoulder against a protruding root when she landed. She grimaced and rolled to her back, feeling it with her uninjured arm. Nothing felt out of place, and it moved without protest, though she could almost feel a bruise forming. She sat up and turned to him, her hair touseled and overall appearance disgruntled. “Are you happy now?” Her voice was not missing bitterness, as if it had been his brilliant idea for her to use him as a ladder and untie him while nearly sitting on him. “And what’s your name? She snapped, feeling uncharitable. After all, he had woken her up from her nap and made her shift. And it was his fault she fell, too! The nerve of some people! *Shhh, is too a word 8’D --- words;983 ooc;-SmackAnOni- Meanie pants XD

[tempest]

[atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=2e2a43] His sense of pride was damaged enough to cause a faint flush of red to form on his cheeks, but besides that there weren’t many signs to show that Tempest was in fact dangling by his feet from a tree. Still the slight blush was enough to bother the antelope, and in his mind he blamed the gathering heat on the fact that the blood was rushing to his head due to the pull of gravity, not at all because the person who’d stopped to help him had been of the female gender. An attractive female at that. However, her movements were far more captivating then her body and soon his attention drifted back to the way she was climbing up him and towards the knot that held him aloof. It wasn’t every day he had females literally crawling all over him, though he could honestly say that the experience wasn’t at all very pleasant, as the faint grimace on his face clearly showed. Sighing a bit to try and relieve a bit of the mix of embarrassment, frustration, and pure helplessness he felt, Tempest barely noticed that the female had reached the knot. It was only when he craned his neck and forced his head to look up at an uncomfortable angle did he see. Eyes widening slightly in alarm, he had just opened his mouth to warn the girl that she had to be careful or they’d both come crashing to the ground when the women looked down and the rope came undone. Tempest had barely enough time to brace himself, hitting the ground with a large thud and immediately rolling his body to the side to try and lessen the impact. He’d heard that somewhere though he hadn’t quite grasped the reason humans though it would help, his side still hurt after all and it was almost certain that the skin there would be black and blue by the next morning. Tempest was more concerned about the one who’d saved him however. The women was certainly something of interest, she was both good looking in her horse form as her human and though he didn’t think the female had been showing the best judgment when she had untied him that way, he knew she’d had good intentions. It made him happy to know that not all the females in his herd were giggling and brainless things. Here lying in the grass not too far from him was a girl with fire, a passionate creature, and he wanted to get to know her more. It seemed that his old love was fading faster now, she had after all abandoned him. She hadn’t had enough strength to defend him and he had overestimated her, it had been a stupid mistake. Trusting anyone was a stupid mistake. Still there was a strange sort of burning in his chest, it felt a bit like hope and despite his best attempts to squash the flames, Tempest could not help but think the female was worth his while to get to know. It was just a feeling, an irrational train of thought, but it was a strong one and almost impossible to ignore. “Are you injured?” His voice was composed and steady like nothing had even happened, but there was still a small note of concern in it, a feeling he didn’t often let show. Tempest hadn’t missed the way the girl clutched at her arm and he might have used the excuse of searching for any signs of pain as the reason his own eyes lingered for a bit on her amber ones. The female’s next words both relieved and amused Tempest, she was fine enough to be angry it seemed, a good enough sign. “Not sure, I’m overjoyed to be down from there though the landing wasn’t something I’d like to repeat.” With that he flashed a small half smile, raising himself into a sitting position so he could better examine the land around them. Tempest would like to have known if anyone else had been around to see that mishap. Luckily he spotted no one and so he turned his focus back to the girl. “Annnd not to mention that no man would be exactly happy to see such a lovely lady as yourself upset.” Getting to his feet, Tempest took the quickest of moments to brush himself off before bending once again, a hand extended towards the girl. “My name is Tempest, may I inquire of yours?” Ooc: SORRY FOR THE SUPER LONG WAIT <3

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][tr][td][/td][/tr][/table][/center]

[Oni]

[atrb=width,463,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true]

[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/atrazc.png] Oni did not like the way the man was looking at her, so intently and almost… concerned? She self-consciously picked a twig out of her hair and averted her eyes from his. It made her even angrier that she was feeling more of these entirely too human emotions, a sign that she’d been living as one too long, and even though it really wasn’t the man’s fault she channeled it towards him. It was easier than being mad at herself, after all. She could always just walk away from him; she was stuck with herself forever. “Are you injured?” The woman automatically felt her shoulder again. Though it was a bit more tender, nothing else had changed. “No.”

[/b] She said shortly and was ready to leave it at that, but the nicer part of her felt bad. He was being polite, even after she’d dropped him on the ground. Oni bit her lip and hastily edited her speech, this time in a much more civil tone, “Are you?”
She hadn’t missed the genuine worry in his words, but did her best to ignore it. It made her a little uncomfortable, as the last man (well, male) to talk to her like that had been Scout, her almost-mate. The thought of Scout made her throat feel a little tighter, and she quickly pushed memories of him away. She was here, and he was there. She was now, and he was then. She needed to let go.

He was talking again, then, answering her snippy, rhetorical question. She almost winced; had he not noticed her tone, or was he simply being kind and overlooking it? The horse shifter opened or mouth, trying to conjure up a reply that wouldn’t make her sound like more of a condescending bitch, but he relieved her of the task by carrying on the conversation himself.

Oni blinked a couple times. Oh. Oh. So that was that this was all about. He thought she was pretty. She took his outstretched hand in silence and stood up, a small, almost disappointed frown clouding her eyes. She’d dealt with men who wanted nothing more than to get in her pants. She wasn’t intimidated by them, and certainly never returned the feelings, but it was a bit unnerving to her to meet a fellow retromorph who acted so similar to humans. “Thank you, Tempest,”[/b] Her face was blank and her voice slightly detached, concealing her rapidly moving thoughts. Tempest… She was sure she’d heard that name before… “I am Oni. I come from an island off of Canada. And you?” She inclined her head slightly towards him at the end, though her eyes remained out of focus.
Good heavens, who had she heard talking about a Bellator named Tempest? A movement against her hand drew her out of her mind. Oni glanced down to see that she was still gripping Tempest’s hand in hers. Oh, God, what kind of message was she giving him with this? She pulled her hand back to her side as quickly as she could, a light flush rising up in her cheeks. Smooth, Oni.

---

ooc; I have lates, also x.e also, creeper Oni. xD
words; 520

[/blockquote][/td][/tr]
[tr][td][/td][/tr]
[/table][/center]

[shirsharespie]

[atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=2e2a43] The woman was alright, thankfully. But as she took his hand and stood, the frown on her face brought a slight one to his as well. What had he done wrong? Did the females where she came from not like being complimented? Did he accidentally insult her? Worry darkened his eyes and for a moment he was silent, just listening to the girl’s voice. It reminded him of music almost, though if he’d been thinking clearly, Tempest might have laughed at himself. What good was a leader who got lost in a pretty girl’s eyes when he should be strategizing? Yet Tempest wasn’t thinking clearly, some part of him was overlaying his fiancé with this new woman, some tiny corner of his mind was turning him into a crushing teenager and it annoyed the rational half of his head. He just hoped that the woman, she said her name was Oni now, wouldn’t notice this. Emotional conflict was a weakness after all, something he couldn’t afford to show in these troubled times. Though he was uncertain if she knew of his rank. “Oni, that’s a nice name. Canada seems like a nice place as well.” The comment floated out almost absently mindedly as he noticed Oni’s hand was still holding on to his. Tempest mentally flinched at the redundant, almost stupid way he had replied. Yet how could he be expected to think straight at this moment? A beautiful woman was holding his hand and he was but a heartbroken and betrayed man. But then the hand was pulled away and it didn’t take a trained eye to notice Oni’s uncomfortable body language. The slight flush on the blonde’s face didn’t go unnoticed either but it was lost on Tempest because he too could feel the heat building against his cheeks. Briefly he looked away to hide the faint blush and perhaps the disappointment in his stormy eyes as well. Thankfully years of masquerading as something he was not had trained him well, it only took a few seconds to compose himself long enough to answer Oni’s question though he wasn’t sure how she would take his response. It wasn’t every day one met the leader of their herd, after all, especially under such circumstances. It almost made the color return to his face to think of it. The Bellator Ductor, stuck high up in a tree and dangling by his feet! In human form, no less! It was pitiful really.So he revised his statement, trying to tell himself that he wasn't the only Bellator from China, that it wouldn't be a clear identifier. Though reasonably, he probably wasn't the sole Chinese one in his herd, it still worried him. Though Oni hadn’t figured out his identity yet, Tempest knew every detail would put her closer to realizing it and him closer to even more shame. The herd had been talking about him lately and at the very least, his background was quite different from the rest of the herd and almost a dead giveway.“I come from Feng Huang, China.” Again, Tempest hated the way his words were so meaningless and awkward. He didn’t even look the slightest bit Asian but to explain would be to give himself away. Still almost against his will the words slipped out. “Though my species isn't native to China, I was born into a richman’s game farm, and then I became his son-in-law or almost did.” He tried to lighten his words so that the blonde didn’t think he said them for pity’s sake. “It’s an amusing story really. Rags to riches and then back to rags.” Giving Oni a curious once over, he paused, remembering that he’d forgotten something. “ But the past doesn’t really matter, does it? I should be thanking you for keeping me from becoming history myself and for enduring my rambling.” Glancing back towards the center of Bellator land, he turned to Oni. “Philp should have considered you for a higher position, you’re quite skilled at dealing with idiots.” Ooc: Oni makes Tempest's brain go BOOM

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][tr][td][/td][/tr][/table][/center]

[grace!]

[Oni]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,500,true]

[atrb=background,http://i55.tinypic.com/1zc1tvk.jpg] Her impassive expression changed to a glare. Amber eyes studied his face and loathed him for his comment on her name (he really couldn’t think Oni was that nice of a name; he’d only complimented her because he found her pretty, Oni was sure)and for the blush creeping up his face that, had she been more human than horse, she would’ve found endearing. She narrowed her eyes and studied his face harshly, becoming more angered when she realized that he was handsome. In some corner of her mind she heard her old friend Madison giggling and whispering to her, noting his fortune structure and daring Oni to make a move. The woman felt a soft tug at her heart; Madison. She missed her friend… However silly and superficial she’d been, she’d been Oni’s first (and, well, only) friend in the human world. But, no. Her face darkened as she remembered that it had been Madison who had turned her in. It was Madison’s fault she was in the Menagerie, Madison’s fault she was doomed to stay in the dome until she died, and there was no way Oni could forgive her for that. She almost started to talk. She was ready to take the rest of her anger out on Tempest, but she’d missed her chance. He was telling her his story, which she’d asked him for, but she found herself unable to concentrate. She stored his words away for later, should she ever care, and took the time to mull over what she’d say once she finished. “But the past doesn’t really matter, does it?” The sentence distracted her momentarily. Her head turned so quickly to face him that her shoulder began to hurt again, but she ignored it. Does it not matter to you? The words formed themselves on her tongue, ready to be spoken, but then he was off on some other subject and she had to let them go. His attitude towards the past was exactly what Oni wished hers was. She only felt a little bit of jealousy, but it was enough to remind her of the ranting lecture she’d planned to give him. It never occurred to Oni that maybe he couldn’t let go of his past that easily, either. “Look, I know what you’re trying to do. You can stop pretending to be nice; it’s not working. I’ve met men like you before. Though I never expected a retromorph to think my human form was pretty enough to act like this.” She began, though with less animation than she’d been planning. Oni was the worst kind of hypocrite; she preached about not judging so much on appearances, but she did it all the time. She often noted a woman’s hips and how well they suited her for childbirth, the strength in a man’s legs, or the set of someone’s shoulders. She was unconsciously drawn to those with a healthy, youthful look to them, the ones who seemed like they had the best chance of survival in their environment. It was mostly unconscious, but she was still guilty of it. “Judging by appearances is such a human thing to do! And we are not humans, we are lucky enough to have their intelligence, which we could use to get ahead in this Menagerie! Most of us have been raised as wild animals, with survival programmed in our brains. Of course, our species won’t be any better off than the rest if we let friviolous…” Her voice trailed off in midsentence as her eyes widened. She finally put the connection together. It was a bit delayed, as she hadn’t paid full attention to his story of his past. A man named Tempest, from China, born on a wealthy man’s game farm, who’d fallen in love with his daughter. Oni was just beginning to realize the gravity of the mistake. Here she was, being just plain rude, to the leader of her herd. Her mouth went dry and her brain numb, and any sort of apology she was trying to muster up faded away. She tried to take a step backwards, away from him, but she tripped over the same root that she’d landed on and ended up falling into the tree trunk. Though she was relatively light, she collided with the tree hard enough to rustle the branches. Something soft was dislodged from the tree and fell onto Oni’s head. She picked it out of her hair and inspected it. It was a piece of a leafy plant. White berried were dotted among the leaves, and someone—probably the same someone who’d left the trap in the tree—had tied a merry red ribbon around the top. There was no mistaking what it was. Oni looked back at Tempest, wanting to come up with some way to excuse her earlier behavior, but when she tried to apologize she said something else entirely. “Mistletoe…” --- ooc; She’s just an angry Oni 8’D she’ll make up for it later? <33 words; 819