A lone travler....(Open)

[pension]

A gust of wind whipped threw the valley as pension walked. The peafowl looked at the land ahead of home he could see a few trees and bushes. He sighed as he walked. This was a lonely place. Pension wondered why he had come to this place.He knew that this place would not have very many creatures. As he walked his tail feathers dragged on the ground making a soft swishing sound. He lifted his feathers a little so he would not make so much noise just in case some creature happened to call this place home.He did not like the thought of meeting another animal but he knew that it was a possibility. He tried not to think much though because every time he did he would start to think about his past. He shook his head as he walked trying not to let his thought get to him. Pension then stumbled over a shrub that he did not see. He fell flat on his face. He sat up and shook his head again.He then looked around he could see that there was a big tree up ahead . He stood up and started to walk again wondering where he should go now and what lied ahead for him.

[Shadowcat]

In one of the few trees of the area sat a creature, still as stone. Although her bright orange eyes were open, she wasn't taking in what she saw. As she listened to the wind blow through the valley, she let it take her away into lands far beyond this one. Into a place where she could fly all day and never grow tired. And place she could be free of those that irritated the living daylights out of her.

Realizing she had been day dreaming, she quickly blinked and surveyed her surroundings. She noticed a rather strange looking creature, making it's way to the large tree where she sat. She noticed it had feathers, but it was walking on the ground. Silly thing... Why walk when you can fly, she thought, huffing quietly. But maybe... maybe it wasn't a bird at all. Was it something she could eat? It sure looked pretty defenseless, but it didn't look like it tasted any good either.

As she watched it clumsily trip over a bush, her thoughts toward this creature became negative. Just another useless creature.... If it were flying, it wouldn't be tripping over things like a brainless hatchling.... As she watched the weird way it walked and the swish if it's feathers, she couldn't stand it much longer.

"You there," she called out to it her voice as sharp as her yellow, hooked beak. "What do you think you're doing, walking around like some clumsy oaf? Birds are supposed to fly, don't you know that?" She puffed her chest feathers out and turned her head away from the colorful animal slightly, obviously thinking very little of it at the moment. Her talons griped the branch she sat on tighter in her disapproval as the hawk named Alanjeh watched the creature disgrace the land with it's clumsiness.

[Nova]

To face opposition without flinching was what it meant to be a fighter. To have a fence placed in front of one's path but somehow find a way to jump over or burst through it was to be a survivor. That was Nova's philosophy in life (and she had very few, having little time to think on such trivial things), and it was almost a game to her to put those convictions to the test of self. That was why she came up into the valley, for she had heard word of the blustering gales that ruffled one's fur and feathers alike and decided to feel them for herself. And now she was galloping head first into the wind, ears pinned to her skull and the muscles in her legs working strenuously to push herself further despite being pushed back.

To make things all the more impressive, the striped mare was going slightly uphill. Gravity and wind power were doing their very best to hold her back, to slow her down, to keep her from reaching her goal, but she would have none of it! She pushed herself onward, swiftly and powerfully, head bobbing in time with her hoofbeats as she scrambled up and into a place that was sheltered from the mighty gusts of air. Snorting with exertion, her muscles were beginning to tire some, but she was so close at this point that it would be stupid not to try and reach the top. The incline steepened, taking something away (her advantage of only a gentle slope) just as soon as giving it to her (the shelter from the wind).

Finally, the steely zebra made it to her goal and almost literally screeched to a halt at the surmount of the hill. For just a fraction of a second, she stood there, perfectly still, her ears pricked forward and her nostrils flaring as she greedily sucked in much-needed air. A muscle in her right shoulder twitched, but otherwise she stood still as a statue. Then, in a wild burst of energy, the black-and-white horse leaned all her weight on her forelegs and kicked out, barking out the sharp kwea, kwea, kwea widely known as the trademark sound of her species. Celebrating her minor victory as if she had just defeated all the Vile, she alternated from her forelegs to her hind ones, lashing her forehooves in the air.

Upon completing her making a spectacle of herself, she brought herself into yet another frozen trace. Her coat was lathered with sweat at this point, but her velvet black lips were curled upward into a pleasant, satisfied smile, obviously pleased with herself. Her flanks heaved and more oxygen was needed and supplied. Her eyes shifted from here to there, seeking perhaps some shade from the sun that was making her that much more uncomfortable. Spotting one easily, she speedily trotted that direction, head held high and eyes lifted in the manner of a confident, if not somewhat arrogant creature. She was not aware of the others until their voices (or rather, one's voice) reached her ears, startling her some.

Nova listened to what the female hawk (for she could see them now, pinpointing her location by following the sound of her voice with her eyes) had to say to the poor, unfortunate peafowl. An ill-tempered snort ripped through the air, directed at the haughty little she-devil. Just who did she think she was, forcing him into a stereotype like that. What if he could not fly? What if he was hurt? How inconsiderate. It was in the zebra's nature to stick up for the underdog, even if she did not even know them, so she wasted no time in jumping to the other's defense. Who cared if it was not any of her business? "Hey, hey! Leave him alone, birdbrain!" the blustery mare exclaimed, unabashedly announcing her presence.

[Shadowcat]

((Skipping Pension 'cause he hasn't been on, for anyone who reads this.))

Alanjeh turned her sharp eyes to the sound of a voice. She puffed her chest out more and held a very proper posture that displayed her beauty. She snapped her head to the side in an offended "well!" sort of way. How dare they talk to her like that!

"This is none of your business. It's bird talk," she retorted. "You wouldn't understand because your kind don't have the intellectual capabilities of birds. What are you anyway? A messed up mule?" Although she truly wasn't sure what this four legged creature was, Alanjeh knew her words were an insult and she meant them as such. Indeed, it was an insult to call most any animal a mule. "What happened? Did you run through a forest where all the branches were covered with mud," she said, referring to the female's stripes. She let out a short, quiet screech of hawk-laughter. "I'm sure glad I don't look like that. What a mess that would be, flying through the sky. But land-walkers are a mess either way, so I suppose you aren't disgracing yourself too much."

The sharpie hawk gave a hawkish-smirk as she stared down at what was, in her eyes, a very ugly creature. She wondered how it could even live with itself, looking like that. And without wings? Pitiful! Land-walkers were clumsy and stupid, unlike birds who were neither of those things. Might as well get rid of all of them except the small ones that do well as food, she thought.

[Nova]

Nova was ready and waiting for the hawk to round on her, and had already picked out the place where the feathered female's eyes would be on the back of her head so she could stare right back. She, noting the way the other expanded herself in what she probably thought was an intimidating way, also puffed up. She raised her head high and stood as straight as she could manage, trying to be taller than her. It was, however, to no avail; the hawk was still much higher up than she was, being able to perch up in the branches of that single tree. That irritated her. That only made her that much more determined to make a fool out of the silly, pompous hawk with nothing better to do than pick on others.

Ha! If Nova had just a single blade of grass for every time a creature told her it 'wasn't any of her business,' she would never go hungry. But then again, this was Amaniji and it was a paradise, and so she never would have to worry about starving, anyway. But still. And how dare she insist that it was none of her business just because she did not have any wings or feathers! She could cover more ground than any bird in a less amount of time; or, at least, so she thought. The fact of the matter was that is was physically impossible, but good luck to anyone who tried to tell Nova that. In her mind, she was an athletic animal, a powerful creature, a being with a little extra strength about her. Who was this hawk to say otherwise?

Oh, and she thought she was smarter than Nova, too? The zebra mare would have been perfectly content with just defending the poor peafowl, and then be on her way (for that was the way she did things; quickly and then without staying to be thanked). But now it was a personal battle; she had called her stupid, if not somewhat indirectly. Alanjeh was going to regret this, she decided with an annoyed flicker of her ears. A mule? Hmpf! How would she like it if she just called her a weird-looking duck or - wait, that was perfect! "I could ask you the same thing!" she snorted angrily, pawing the earth beneath her hooves in an agitated manner. "Are you some ugly owl or something?"

Insulting her stripes was probably the worst thing the hawk could do. Nova's stripes were her pride, her most favorite aspect of herself. After all, they set her apart; not only from the rest of the animal kingdom, but from her own species as well. No other zebra had the same pattern stripes as she did, making her the individual she insisted on being. Fury blazed in the dark eyes of the zebra mare and she reared up on her hind legs, pawing the air above her as if trying to reach her enemy and strike her down. "No, I didn't run through a muddy forest!" she returned in a childish (for it was in her nature to be somewhat immature) retort, coming back down to earth with a thud. "I'm a zebra, not a mule, ya' stupid bird!"

It was horribly frustrating that she could not reach her antagonizer, for it was in her nature to be physical when angered rather than verbal. Words did absolutely nothing to convince one's opponent of their power; all they did was irritate, inflame the temper further but without any satisfaction. "Why don't you come down here and say that to my face, featherhead!" she spat back, shaking her head and causing her straight, striped mane to rattle back and forth. Honestly, she could probably stomp this silly, big-talking bird into the dirt if she wanted to. She dared Alanjeh to try and use that sharp beak, wanted the hawk to attempt to use those claws. If there was one thing she loved most, it was a good s-blocked-.

[Shadowcat]

Alanjeh stared at the animal, as if shocked by her words. Then, she opened her sharp beak, closed her eyes, and let out a piercing laugh. She quickly regained control of herself and spoke, her voice holding a note of amusement, a crooked smile on her face.

"An owl? Is that the best insult you can come up with?" She gave a quiet chuckle, then continued, sounding as if she might burst out laughing at any moment. "Stealing my comment and changing the species?" She laughed loudly again. "I knew your kind was dumb, but really."

When her laughter had stopped again, the hawk displayed a smug look on her face, as if she understood a secret joke that no one else did. She then replied to the rest of the animal's words. "No thanks. I don't feel like getting my glorious feathers dirty," she said in the most irritating, calm way. "I just groomed them. You, on the other hand, well, I'm not sure you know how to groom yourself. What with all those black stripes."

Alanjeh was good at interpreting the way the "zebra" looked at her. Why? Because she looked at others that same way, often. She had also seen the zebra's physical displays of annoyance and Alanjeh knew the creature wanted to hurt her physically. She wasn't stupid, though. She knew the four-legged animal was too big and too dangerous for her to take on. But, her ego and her bullying often took her beyond her intelligence. Her reason for avoiding a physical fight at the moment was true of what she had said. She didn't want to get dirty. And by refusing to fight, she wanted to make herself look better than an animal that wanted to deal with problems physically. Alanjeh, however, was ready to keep up the mental and emotional fight, to, if nothing else, annoy the heck out of this female.

"What's a matter? Too high for you to reach?" She asked in a voice full of pity. "Why don't you just stretch your wings," at this she stretched her wings wide, "and fly up here?" She gave a few powerful flaps and allowed the wind to carry her higher into the air. She soared without flapping much now, gliding in circles, high above the zebra in a graceful way. She was doing it to be a show off.

[Nova]

The hawk's laughter inflaming her already-fiery temper, Nova's ears pinned back flat against her head in sheer frustration. Her eyes, which were far sharper than any grass-eater's should ever be, narrowed dangerously and yet another time a wide black hoof dug at the poor, innocent earth below. And just what was so funny about that? She just insulted the other; she had wanted it to back down, not laughing itself into a coma! The peafowl was completely forgotten at this point, for he was no longer the focus of attention (for the zebra had a knack for stealing the spotlight, whether it was on purpose or completely accidental). She could have simply stepped forward and crushed him underhoof and would not notice.

She blinked up at the silly bird, embarrassment making the tips of her ears burn as extra blood rushed through them. Yes, she knew all too well that her switched-about insult had been a stupid one, but really. Was it completely necessary to make light of her own foolish mistake? What was done was done; the past, even if it had just been only seconds ago, was not to be looked back upon. "No, it's not," she admitted sullenly, scrambling to think of a better statement to hurl at her opponent in this battle of wits. She was a quick thinker most of the time, but she was not exactly much of a talker. She was a creature of action, after all. "I had a better one, but I was too busy trying to figure out what I was looking at and forgot!"

Yes, that sounded good. She would go with that one. She retreated some (not because she was done) and smirked herself, the way a small, satisfied filly may take a step back to admire the tall barrier she had finally gotten big enough to leap over. The look on the bird's face bothered her, though; it was as if she knew something no one else did, and she did not like not knowing what was going on. Glorious? Just how much more arrogant could this feathered female be? "It's the color of my fur, stupid!" she burst out, rage pulsing through her with almost frightening visibility. Again with the stripes! Oh, Alanjeh was going to pay when Nova could finally reach her. "At least I'm not a waste of feathers!"

It did not occur to Nova that handling the situation without going berserk would look better on her part, as it never really did. She did what she felt like, after all was said and done. Her thoughts and her words were exactly the same, and she very rarely made idle threats or promises. A doer by far, she hated it when others told her to 'think things through,' even though in this particular situation it would have been wise to do so. Really, all Alanjeh had to do was spread her wings and fly away, leaving Nova with a seething heart and no one to turn on. But the mare did not think about that, her mind set on the present and nothing further. Not even by a few seconds. So, of course, it did not occur to her that Alanjeh was taking advantage of her, either.

The muscles in the zebra's shoulders twitched once or twice as she glared up at the hawk, tension making them spasmodically tighten now and again. As the bird continued to mock and degrade her, her blood boiled and roared discontentedly in her ears, which were still hot from her previous embarrassment. Yes, it was too high for her to reach. And she could not stretch her wings and fly up there, due to her obvious lack of equipment. Jealousy replaced anger when she realized that was the one thing Alanjeh had that she did not; the power of flight. She reared up again, barking out three or four kweas in agitation. "Go ahead and fly away! The ducks called; they want their flock idiot back!"

((*sucks at insulting people even in character*))[/size]

[Shadowcat]

((You gotta feel it. You gotta forget about yourself and look at things as if you were that character and really feel it. I'm just getting warmed up with Alanjeh since she's a new character.))

Alanjeh smirked at the zebra's second attempt at an insult. She must be new to the whole insulting concept, she thought. Either that or entirely stupid. She watched the creature in amusement, choosing to let her expression say all that need be said.

As the "mule" tried again to make an insult, Alanjeh road the winds higher and higher, still circling her. This insult was better, but still utterly pathetic in the hawk's book. Perhaps it was because she was a master at insults. Or rather, a master and being annoying and rude. She knew the striped animal still was longing to trample her and she had something in mind to further provoke her enemy.

The bird kept flying up, saying nothing. "The only waste of feathers are those that belong to creatures that can't fly," she yelled, her voice quiet from the height. Finally, when she was far above the irritating mammal, she tipped her beak forward and folded her wings halfway. Alanjeh plummeted quickly, all the while gaining speed. When she neared the animal, she leaned back slightly and extended her sharp talons. However, at the last second, when she was just out of the zebra's reach, Alanjeh opened her gray and white wings and gave several hard flaps, lifting her back up. Her dive had been both something to show off with, and a way of teasing the zebra.

Alanjeh then landed on the branch she had previously been on and locked her feet around it. At the comment, she puffed her chest out again and her look turned from amusement to irritation. Her adversary finally had made a good insult and it offended her. She hastily wiped the look off of her face by replacing it with another pitied look. She then continued with what she had been about to say, as if she hadn't heard the insult.

"Oh wait, that's right. You can't fly because you don't have wings. Such a pity to be without wings. But, that's just how the rock rolls. I have wings and you don't," she said, hoping to make her enemy jealous.

[Nova]

Yes, to be perfectly honest, Nova was new to the concept of insulting. It was a waste of time, really, and energy. And breath. And pretty much a waste in general. As said before, words were nothing; empty, without any punch in them whatsoever. Physical power was a much better way to get one's point across, and she was good at that! Belligerent without being flat out evil, she had never settled a dispute with words alone. More often than not, somewhere along the line, she ended up lashing out those solid black hooves and striking her opponent. But she could not do it this time around, and she was not sure what else to do. She considering leaving, just letting it go; but that would be a surrender.

And surrender was completely out of the question. Nova had never backed down from something without giving it a good shot, and she was not licked just yet. The only way she would allow herself to abandon this hopeless case was if Pension stepped in and started defending himself, or if she was satisfied that Alanjeh had been paid in kind for her cruelty. Honestly, the zebra mare wanted to make friends with everyone she met, but her ego, its skin stretched thin and fragile due to the size of it, was unspeakably easy to bruise or burst. She peered up at the soaring hawk, anger at the other for showing off something she could not have boiling in the core of her very being. Even if she tried, she could never have wings.

Nova's ears pricked alertly atop her head as the other female's voice suddenly came down from high above. It was hard to hear exactly what Alanjeh had said, which caused the striped mare to squint slightly in confusion. The words did not make much sense, either; if something had feathers, it could fly, right? So really, that did not make any sense whatsoever. She could not fly, that much was true. But according to the hawk, she was not a waste of feathers, because she did not even have them. A smirk flashed across the zebra's muzzle, pleased to have finally caught a slip up on the other's part. "That doesn't even make any sense!" she shouted back, unsure if she could even hear her. "All those feathers must be clogging your brain!"

Nova stretched her neck upward as she tried to make out her new arch enemy, only able to make out a black-gray speck up in the sky. She wondered, briefly, what it was like up there, soaring high above the world without having to worry about it anything to stop her. It had always been a dream of hers, ironically, to be able to fly. Just think of the sort of power that would come with the ability to fly! She could travel faster and farther, and - wait, what was Alanjeh doing? The zebra snorted in confusion as the hawk plummeted downward, dismayed (for she did not want anyone to die, no matter how much she disliked them). The claws did not bother her; she was going to crash into her! She faltered backward, half-rearing and shaking her head.

The mare blinked in confusion when the Alanjeh did not collide with the ground, instead fluttering easily up and back into the tree. She hardly noticed the fact that she had actually managed to break the hawk's pitious act, for though she was observant, it was not help other animals around her. She was only aware of what was happening to her, and very little else. She curled her lips at the parasite who seemed to be sucking the energy out of her, the gesture not quite as threatening as she wished it was (she really should have been born a carnivore, she would decide later). "So what if I don't?" she demanded, puffing out her chest, surprise forgotten. "At least I've got a brain bigger than a walnut."

[Shadowcat]

With her sharp hearing, Alanjeh had indeed heard the zebra's words. Not well, however. She had to think about what she heard on her plummet down before she understood. Only after she had landed on the branch did she launch her reply. "It makes perfect sense. After all, there is such a waste of feathers here now," she said, her eyes oh so obviously turning toward the peafowl. She did her best to look calm and undisturbed as she continued. "Not to mention penguins, ostriches...."

A sickly sweet smile was the next expression to cross her face. "Yes, deary, but the size of the brain isn't important if the owner doesn't know how to use it," she said sweetly. Although she was doing it to bug the mare and she was hopeful of the results, the tone irritated even her. The sharpie hawk hated pretty much all politeness, even if it wasn't sarcastic. She never liked conversations where others were overly polite. It made things take to long to say and, being a creature that didn't like conversation, that bothered Alanjeh.

In fact, Alanjeh was beginning to grow bored with the whole thing. This zebra-thing, whatever it was, wasn't good at insulting. Besides that, Alanjeh had an awfully short attention span and couldn't stand being in one place too long, conversation or not.

((Sorry it's short. >.< I'm gonna have her leave in the next post, if that's okay. I know the thread was short but Alanjeh's like that.))

[Nova]

((That's cool. In that case, I'mma have Nova back off first. It'll give her that much more of a reason to hate Alanjeh next time. XD))

It was infuriating, just how mean-spirited this hawk was. It was not as if the poor peafowl had been bothering anyone; he had been wandering along, it seemed, minding his own business when he happened to stumble. Of course, Nova would never be seen doing something that silly herself, but she felt it was her duty to come to the aide of those weaker or smaller than herself. She was, naturally, the best creature for it; she was the best creature for anything, really. Especially if it was for something noble and noteworthy; anything that would help her inflate her already massive go. Although, she was a bit strange in the sense that her pride was self-inflicted; praise from others was nice, but not needed.

Penguins and ostriches. Nova's ears flickered forward at the names of other birds that could not fly, not interested in the context but curious as to the actual words themselves. Since she had grown up on the savanna, she knew what an ostrich was; they were tall, long-necked birds that could run as fast as she could, even though they only had two legs instead of four. But the word penguin was foreign to her; what in the name of Zariff was a penguin? Being the sort that spoke first and thought later, she could not stop herself. "What's a penguin?" she asked dumbly, forgetting for just a moment that she was supposed to be furious at this evil, condescending bird who seemed to be smarter than her.

She shook her head suddenly in angry frustration, realizing her mistake only too late. She snorted, quickly finding a way to make it Alanjeh's fault; surely, this hawk had some sort of mind control. That would explain why she was unable to think of anything snappy to say, why she was asking questions in the middle of an argument like a foal suffering from ADD, and why her mind was hazed by a red vapor. Yes, that was it! Mind control! This hawk, whose name she still did not know (and really no longer cared about anymore), had been given the power over other animal's minds and was abusing it, rather than using it to help others the way the Guardians (who must have given it to her in the first place) wanted her to.

So she did know how to use her brain. Alanjeh was just messing with it and making Nova believe that it was her own fault. But it was not! It was not! The zebra puffed up even more, finding a new confidence (as if she did not have enough already) in the notion that it was not her own stupidity, her own innocence at all. The hawk was cheating, and cheating was probably the lowest form of cowardice she could think of. Nothing was ever won when one resorted to underhandedness, even if it appeared that they did on the surface. "I know how to use mine just fine, thank you," she replied in a huff, shaking her long head a second time and ruffling her mane. There was little else she could say, really.

This was a waste of time, Nova decided. As much as she hated - no, loathed admitting defeat, she simply could not compete against an animal who obviously had some weird power over her poor brain. She was proud and brass, but she was not stupid, either. "And it's just because of that that I know it's not worth my time arguing with a little s-blocked- of down with a big beak, she retorted. She practically burst with pride; that was probably her best jab yet, and there was nothing Alanjeh could say or do that would convince her otherwise. "Just don't think that this is over," she threatened over her shoulder, already stalking back down the hill like an insulted tiger. "You haven't seen the last of me."