Name: Skye
Gender: Female
Age: 1 1/4
Pack: Mountain Pack
Position: Apprentice
Description: Very youthful and innocent-looking as Mightyenas go, despite being nearly full-grown physically, Skye still can't seem to come off as anything but an unusually large Poochyena with her strangely fluffy-looking - and nearly white - fur and large, innocent eyes, the effect being further enhanced by the fact that they're sky blue, unlike the conventional red. She has her fangs like any other Mightyena, of course, but even their intimidating effect seems strangely dampened, possibly because they tend to be locked in a slightly vacant smile.
Personality: Skye is...well, a bit strange. She is obedient enough, certainly, quick to oblige and rarely complaining, but for anyone watching her in a fight, it's obvious that the Mightyena finds no joy in fighting or killing, often withdrawing to solitude after particularly nasty hunts or border scuffles. She also tends to be distanced from those around her, rarely participating in conversations but gazing up at the sky instead, lost in thought. When she does speak, however, her words tend to be very carefully thought out and often almost completely incomprehensible. Skye, it seems, speaks only when she deems it necessary. only says what is absolutely necessary and apparently hates repeating herself. In contrast to her strange insightfulness, she can also come off as very childlike and almost unbelievably naive at times, often tottering after older members of the pack and following everything they do with unwavering concentration without letting as much as a single word cross her lips. The general consensus of the pack - often almost desperately discussed in various degrees of confidence - is that the young Mightyena's behaviour is just "funny influences" derived from her mother, a now deceased old female who had become notoriously eccentric after her mate and three pups perished in a ferocious clash between the clans. This explanation doesn't seem very satisfying, however, as it neglects explaining how the old, rattled, and completely undesirable female found someone to father the pup, but this little wrinkle is overlooked by consensus, nervously laughed away among the more gossipy members of the pack, and Skye has yet to answer the question for herself. She also seems strangely unbothered by the way most pack members try to steer clear of her, apparently fully content to stroll after her newest target of interest: the pack deputy, Snowfang.
Rp sample: Bleah, laziness is so contagious. I'll just point at
Ancient Dynasty for now. Fair enough?
EDITNESS: Nyah, fresh sample up and running. I hope I didn't take too many liberties. ^-^
He knew it.
Ever since that near-fatal accident he had caused with the loose boulders, he had known that Boulderstar wouldn't let him off that easily. You didn't not trigger an accidental landslide and nearly kill off two warriors of the pack only to get away with cleaning duty, and even if he had somehow believed that, the fact that he was actually getting an apprentice to help - under the pretence of education - should have been enough of a warning. The older Mightyena sighed as he trudged over to the sizeable pile of debris and rocks clogging the passage. Of course, not everything needed to be cleared out. After all, the Mightyenas of the mountain pack were as sure-footed as they come, and a suitable amount of boulders would hardly pose an obstacle even for the pups, intruders, however, would probably not be quite as lucky. With a steep but sharp-cragged face of rock on one side and a deep chasm on the other, they could be easily bunched up and defeated- Yes, the job in itself wasn't hard, just tedious, but his supposed "assistance" was another matter alltogether.
"Flint-sama?" the voice of a younger, female Mightyena reached the older one's name, snapping him from his thoughts. He didn't even need to turn around to spot the speaker as he could already picture her perfectly in his mind: that strange, nearly white furr, all fluffy like a pup's, and those piercing blue eyes. The Mightyena gave an involuntary shudder, having felt that very pair focused on him with such intensity for the whole journey had been an unnerving experience to say the least. The apprentice had spoken only once this far, and completely ignored her elder's desire to be called by his proper name; Flintfang.
"Yes...Skye?" he replied in as even a voice as he could manage, forcing himself to turn his head in the general direction of the one who was adressing him, creepy though those eyes were.
'Get a grip.' he scolded himself mentally,
'She's just an apprentice like any other, even if she is creepier than usual. There's no reason to be this ruffled. She's probably just going to ask for orders or something.' it was a vain hope, and he knew it.
"Why do we fight?"
'Of all the stupid-' Flintfang thought for himself, but he quickly stiffled the urge to say it out loud; "To get food." he replied simply, "That's why we hunt. You do know how to hunt, don't you?"
"Flint-sama, that's not what I meant." Skye remarked with the strained patience of one who was trying to converse with a child, "Why do we attack others?"
"Because this is our territory." the older Mightyena replied irritably "And we must defend it from intrusion. That's what being a warrior is all about."
The apprentice considered his words for a moment, all the while persisting to look at Flintfang in a slightly disorienting manner, as if she was trying to stare at a point a few inches beneath his skull and the face was only getting in the way.
"Why...is this our territory?" she asked at last.
"Why?" the warrior echoed in disbelief, "It's because-" he took a brief pause.
'Why? Because it's ours, because it's always been ours. The proof of the territory is in the territory.' he groaned. No wonder Boulderstar had wanted a break from the pup, her silence was uncomfortable, but her questions were downright insufferable, and she had been following Snowfang like a shadow for almost a week now. The pack leader had probably wanted some private time with his female - well, it seemed obvious to him that the deputy was Boulderstar's by right, even if it wasn't 'official' so to speak - "It's because we live here!" he snapped at last, "Because we hunt here! It's ours because it's ours! Because we were here first!" he growled irritably, "Now enough of this nonsense, we need to clear out these boulders."
"Why?"
"Because they're dangerous and they're obstructing our passage!" he replied, becoming continuously annoyed with the constantly calm voice of the apprentice, in fact, didn't he detect a sense of pity in there? Was the pup thinking she was smarter?
For a moment more, Skye stared at Flintfang in silence as the older Mightyena trudged over to the nearest boulder letting out a howl as he charged for one of the cracks, knocking of a large chunk from the top with a Rock Smash attack.
"Flint-sama?" she remarked, interrupting him in mid-blow as he prepared to strike off another chunk, "How long have these boulders been here?"
"I-I don't know and I don't care!" the Mightyena replied gruffly, "Forever, I suppose. Why?"
"Well, if they've been here longer than us, aren't we intruding on their territory?"
"That's-they're-they're rocks for goodness sake!" Flintfang exclaimed in desperation, taking out part of his anger on the boulder by chipping off another chunk "Rocks don't have territories!"
"I understand." Skye said simply, proceeding to walk towards another one of the stray boulders and prodding it experimentally. However, just as Flintfang hoped that he had finally gotten to the end of the questions, the apprentice spoke up once again:
"Flint-sama..." she began, "Are these rocks attacking us?"
"Well...not as such." Flintfang replied, "Why do you ask?" talking to the pup was like picking at a scabb, you knew that the more you did it the worse it would get, but somehow you just couldn't stop picking.
"We're only supposed to hunt and defend." Skye said slowly, "But if we don't hunt rocks and the rocks aren't doing anything that we can defend ourselves against, are we allowed to attack them?"
"I-" the older Mightyena replied, noticing far too late that he had stepped into the verbal equivalent of a bear trap, "I-I don't-" he searched desperately for a way to wriggle out with his status as the wiser intact, finally coming upon something that seemed to qualify.
"Come to think of it, these rocks actually
did attack us." he stated triumphantly, "They came rolling from above and nearly killed some of our warriors in a fight a few days ago. That's why we have to destroy them. Do you see?"
Skye's eyes widened slightly, a tinge of what the older Mightyena, much to his surprise, found to resemble sadness flashing across them. She merely nodded in response.
"Good." Flintfang replied, now being in far better spirits than before, "Now stop talking and help me fight off these intruders." he seriously hoped that none of the other pack members were around, referring to boulders as enemies would surely make him the laughing stock of the whole pack.
Skye nodded once again, trotting closer to the large pile of rocks and studying it carefully for a while before continuing alongside the main pile until she was almost at the cliff's edge.
"What are you doing?" Flintfang growled irritably, once again having to interrupt his work in order to check up on the apprentice.
"Studying the enemy." she replied in a tone suggesting that this should have been perfectly obvious, "Flint-sama. Strike there, please." she nodded towards one of the more sizeable boulders which had been wedged in a horizontal position in front of the pile of larger ones.
"Now look!" the older Mightyena growled, puffing up his chest fur in an attempt to seem more in charge, "I'm the warrior and I give the orders!"
"I don't have the strength." Skye explained in the politely bored voice of someone trying - for the tenth time - to teach a little child that one plus one is two, "Strike here, please."
"I-" Flintfang continued, "I-FINE!"
He growled in aggitation, gathering up power for a moment before charging at the rock and delivering a powerful strike to it that caused cracks to form along the boulder's surface.
As soon as the blow had been landed, Skye charged forward in turn, forcing the older warrior to dodge to the side as she delivered a careful imitation of the move to the central crack, causing the boulder to shatter, before quickly leaping back again.
The effect was nearly instantaneous, a deep rumbling suddenly becoming audible as the barricade of stone celebrated its release by beginning to tumble down the slight slope of the path and into the chasm below, first the smaller rocks and pebbles close by, then the larger rocks than had been resting on them, the entire blockade falling down like so many dominoes.
"That-" Flintfang managed to utter, gaping in awe, "How did you-"
He paused, suddenly realising that Skye wasn't with him anymore and soon spotting the peculiarly coloured Mightyena's departing back a good way up on the slope they had come down.
"Wait!" Flintfang called out, but between the rumble of the stones and the howling of the winds, even the full-grown Mightyena's howl was hopelessly drowned, and he could do nothing but watch, his gaze travelling back and forth between the peculiar apprentice and the now cleared passage while his mind stubbornly refused to grasp what had just happened. One thing was certain, though, this had probably not been what Boulderstar had in mind.
Meanwhile, up on the slope, Skye's attention had already been shifted tn a spot in the distance; the pack dens, her paws at full work with bringing their owner towards it as quickly as possible and her eyes glinting slightly.
"Snow-nee-chan." the Mightyena whispered quietly, "I'm coming."