idk this is a solo seasonal just ignore it

*Kiriko* · 04-13-2023, 11:11 AM

let's stick together just a little bit longer

Time seemed to pass differently within Tojo-Kai. Maybe it was because she’d spent so much time looking over her shoulder before this. Maybe it was because she was used to the hustle and bustle of city life before this. Things within the old empire had moved so fast all the time. Here? Things were different here. Maybe that was why Hattori liked it so much. Maybe that was why he’d settled here, made this his home. Kiriko finds herself thinking of him idly as she goes about her daily tasks. The red koi considers too, that she should maybe make more of an effort with the others within the pack. Get to know them. Come to understand them. Learn their stories, and why they’ve come here too. All things in time.

She was still concerned that getting to know them was a liability. Maybe someone here still communicated with those back home, as unlikely as it was. Kiriko was still on edge. Still nervous. She still had to worry about the things she didn’t know. There was a handsome bounty on her head. Her bloodline still existing in this world, it was a danger to the rebels. Were there still loyalists out there? Had they all been wiped from the face of the planet? Really, that was just as likely.

Did anyone who still lived and breathed even know that she and Katsuo had escaped? They’d surely been spotted, but by who? Being so far away, it was hard to even know anymore. All of these thoughts, and what had become of Katsuo anyway? He was so… annoying. Annoying, but he had so much charm to him. Kiriko figured that he was probably doing fine. Washing up on pretty much any foreign shore wouldn’t be much of a problem for him. An educated, confident boy. Competent fighter. Good with a sword, good with his wits. More likely than not, whatever had happened, he was fine now. Kiriko had to tell herself that. She was trying not to feel guilty about the whole thing.

And still she found herself examining the sea. There was so much of it. It managed to make her feel so small. So insignificant. In a comforting way, even. Comfortingly insignificant. Small in a big world. If Kiriko could fade where they couldn’t see her, where they couldn’t get to her, then she would be okay. They couldn’t find her in a world so wide. In a world so incredibly large. Kiriko would find safety in numbers, even if that number was the population of the entire world around her.

Maybe her mind is somewhere else when she hears it. Quiet footsteps against the sound of the waves lapping softly against the shore. If there had been anything else to obscure the sound, Kiriko would have missed it. She would have missed it entirely. The near-paranoia of her day to day has trained her, turned her into something that’s nearly impossible to prey upon. The mountain lion that had come down, far afield from their typical habitat, had picked the wrong wolf. He’d picked the wrong wolf to mess with today. Though she is not the biggest, though she is not the most formidable, though she’s not the best trained… yeah, he still messed up.

Before the cat can spring, Kiriko rushes to the shadows to meet him. Her teeth glint in the sunlight, and she lets go a growl from somewhere deep in her chest. The tawny creature seemed surprised, having lost his advantage. Having lost his edge. This would be a fair fight, at least probably. He was around her size as well, and the two would probably be well met. Still, retractable claws are a bitch to deal with. Kiriko manages to get the first hit in, her teeth sinking into his shoulder and ripping. The cat retaliated, claws out, and swiped across her shoulder. Pain bloomed across the area, a yelp shattering the silence of the afternoon.

She doesn’t recoil. She doesn’t disengage. Instead, Kiriko presses forward and into the predator. She lashes out, the bite she deals savage– but in the wrong place. Though she’d lunged for the cat’s jaw, he jerks at the exact perfect time. Instead of the jaw, instead of a dire wound to an area rich with blood flow, she rips off a chunk of his ear. At least she was chipping away at the predator. The cat, too, lunges for her neck. Kiriko dodges backwards, her eyes wide. Can’t let him get that close. Can’t be in that much danger.

As she disengages just a bit, she does her best to grit her teeth through the pain in her shoulder. It seemed that the cat wanted to get away from her too, but the koi can’t let that happen. She can’t let him move toward the pack. She won’t let that happen. Gathering herself over her hind legs, she rears forward and pounces. Grabbing ahold of the cat’s hind leg, she drags him backwards. Kirko’s teeth sink in. The cat screams. She rips and tears at the flesh here, and something beneath her jaws lets go with a sickening snap. The cat was stumbling now.

It seemed like she was making an impact, at least. Though the cat rounds on her, it seems weaker than before. The swatting and swiping of claws manages to catch her across the bridge of the nose, but the cuts are shallow. Three of them, already beginning to bloom with blood. Kiriko snarls, slamming her chest and shoulder into the cat. Staggering it. Trying to get the creature prone, or at least off balance. If she could push it over, then she’d be able to beat it back. Kirko was sure of it.

Not going down without a fight, the cat still flailed. It was clear he was losing steam. Timing her assault for the moment he had a forepaw off the ground, Kiriko knocked the predator over with another slam of her shoulder. Though she was slight, she was still an athlete. Bloodied and bruised, but victorious, she would take this win for herself. She slammed hard into the cat’s chest, and as he shook his head and exposed his neck, Kiriko went in for the kill. Delicate, shining white teeth sinking into the tawny pelt. The taste of blood hot on her tongue, and a whimper from the creature… that was how he ended. Kiriko was panting as she took a step back, catching her breath. Turning her head to the side, she indelicately spat out a mouthful of the cat’s blood.

Well. That was enough of that for the day, thank you.

Thread Move Log
Thread		Forum	From	To
1.	idk this is a solo seasonal just ignore it	Manatee Bay	11:11 AM, 04-13-2023	04:41 AM, 12-05-2023

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