battle scars

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thunderstorm / blizzardy weather & also before the trail - and after the sreda/kuhn, sreda/arcane threads, rolled a 14 for 'hide and seek skills'

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There was a tension rising within the young tiger, and no one to talk to about it. A pressure, building up within his chest, and his gut, and Arcane found himself on edge a lot more lately, as this pressure began to build and build.

In the last few weeks or so, he’d become more distant. He traveled around the tundra more, versus watching the puppy-children or following Genghis around. He didn’t faux-stalk the other wolves within Duskguard, either.

In fact, he took a step back and just explored the rest of their kingdom. His head was in the clouds, mostly, not realizing or caring about the sudden change in the weather, thinking it was just a little bit of rain - nothing to be scared of - so Arcane took to exploring some nearby caves.

A decent sized cave, enough to house at least a small pack, Arcane quickly discovered there was no one else here, thankfully, but also, no way out and by the time he had come to leave, the weather had progressed so bad that he couldn’t even see two feet in front of him.

It was dark, raining, and ugly. It felt very much as though he was standing on the opposite side of a waterfall, as though he was inside one of those waterfalls that had a cute little cave on the inside, but there was no waterfall. It was just nasty rain, thunder, and lightning.

A crack of lightning took to the sky, and suddenly, Arcane could see the outline of a very large feline, right before he entered the caves.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Guess it's time to hide and seek.

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The sleet had already frozen the blood in place.  Today, it was a small meal, and the big cat wasn't completely satisfied.  Typically, the winds could make it easier to hunt whist approaching, but harder to track.   But, today the weather was so poor that likely every living creature would be retuning to their den's.  Accepting his loss the Amur tiger, was soaked and frozen, carrying the weight of the solid water water collected in his fur. 

Lightning cracked behind him as he stepped into a cave.  Heavy steps took him past the threshold and into sanctuary.  Covered in frozen mud up to his elbows, water ran to his underside as it dripped onto the dry ground.  Wet fur clung tightly to the cat in clumps as the ice already began to thaw, removing any semblance of fluffiness that his fur would usually have. Instead it clung tightly to his physique, heavy and well toned by days of hunting and eating.  

Entering the dry air, the first thing that struck him was his own smell as the scent of his wet fur filled the cave.  But it only took a moment before he was acclimated.  Continuing his stride forward the big cat scanned the features of the cave, catching whiff of Archane's scent somewhere nearby.  It was feint, maybe he had just missed him, either way the young cat didn't look like he was here.  Maybe the cub was avoiding him?

Shrugging, the older male closed his eyes, shaking himself out; dislodging pieces of ice, and droplets of water from his pelt.

rolled 10

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^^He shouldn’t have run and hid like a cub. He was a big boy, and he could handle himself, gosh darn it! Now he was stuck in the den, with his nemesis. There was no other way out, he even double checked.

Kuhn was really blocking the only exit, unless Arcane wasted time and energy trying to dig out a new entrance - but by then, Kuhn would hear him, and his energy would be spent. Not an acceptable solution.

The only thing left to do was to approach him and ask him to move, or to somehow slip past him, maybe? He shook his head, slowly approaching Kuhn with a sigh.

“Some weather we’re having, huh??”

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Thinking that he was alone the striped man let out a long relived sigh. It was good to get out of the sleet.

Posturing up to clean himself, Kuhn began to lick at his underbelly, trying to free some if the ice from his fur before it began to melt.

Startled by the boy, Kuhn instantaneously released a threatening growl. His voice echoing in the cave, and showing his fangs he dipped his hips to the floor in a defensive position.

Whipping around, the older male only found the young boy, who had successfully snuck up in him.

"Oh... Its you.", exhaled the cat with relief, slowly relaxing himself to the floor once again.
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^^Arcane watched him carefully through narrowed eyes as he remained where he was, already on the defense as he was trapped in a small cave with his enemy. An enemy that he lived with, that he usually kept close tabs on.

So when the growl came his way, he did not look or act surprised. He flinched, as though he were an abuse victim, expecting to be assaulted. The show of Kuhn’s fangs came, and Arcane narrowed his eyes, ready to go out fighting if needed - but then, Kuhn relaxed at the sight of him.

Oh… it’s you. The larger tiger had said, relaxing there after.

Normally, that was something one said in disgust, and used as an insult, but there was relief in Kuhn’s tone.

He wrinkled his nose in confusion and blinked over towards the relaxing tiger.

“Uh, hey… you.. ”

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"Some light feet you have there.", chuckled the older male with a bit of tension, noticing the youth's discomfort.

Not standing, the man let the tip of his tail softly beat against the floor, as he watched the young cat.

In the silence the general echo of the cave was filled with the whooshing sound of the stormy sleet blasting by the entrance of the cave. "Uhh... Ya, that is quite a storm..."

An ear twitched, not knowing what to make of the young tiger.
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^^Arcane grinned, lifting a paw to inspect his feet as Kuhn mentioned that he had light feet. He twitched his nose, and looked back at the older tiger. He was still not standing, whereas Arcane was, his eyes lingering on the movements of Kuhn’s tail.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I never noticed before..” Arcane tended to stay in areas covered in snow, after all - and the snow always made that satisfying crunching sound.

His eyes lingered to the entrance of the cave, where he longed to be, noting the conditions of the storm. “Yeah, some storm. Came outta nowhere… ” Arcane said, nervously licking his lips.

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Consigning himself to returning to his grooming, the older male got back to his work licking out the moisture from the shaggy fur of the side if his belly. Wet was fine, cold was fine, but wet and cold was not.

In the midst of a lick, Kuhn's eyes mooned upwards at the boy. "Are you alright?"

He could never be sure with this young cat. Something just seemed off.
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^^“Who? Kuhn? Ain’t gone do nothin’ to you,” the child had told him and now Arcane found himself trapped in a little cave with the tiger, who had relaxed in his company, returning to grooming his own coat as though they were not a threat to each other - though that was only half true.

Arcane was but a boy; a boy that Kuhn could easily snuff out, here in this cave, but he didn’t.

Why didn’t he?

Even as they were alone, there was no aggressive air about him.

“I am confused about you.” Arcane stated, turning his attention from the storm outside to the tiger in front of him.

“How do you feel about me?” He asked, suddenly, with the twitch of his tail.

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The way the boy was acting made the older male feel uneasy, making sure to watch him from the corner of his eye. He understood that their kind was naturally shy and solitary, but there was an added layer of awkwardness that he couldn't seem to shake.  

"You? Fine I guess, I don't really know you though...", Kuhn answered a bit perplexed.

Continuing with a cock of the head,  "Confused about me?"  

He had to admit, he had hoped there would be another suncat to vent his mild frustrations on living with wolves with.  But the boy had practically avoided him for months now.
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^^‘An added layer of awkwardness’ was the perfect way to describe Arcane, who wasn’t really sure how the heck he was feeling right in this moment. Kuhn’s answer made him chuckle a bit, though, dropping his guard for a few moments -

Keeping his guard up all the time was exhausting to begin with.

Sheepishly, he nodded his head. “Child Tiberius said you weren’t any harm though. Is that true to only the wolves, or does that apply to me, too?”

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So @Tiberii said that he wasn't any harm.  Chuckling a bit, he figured he was starting to loose his touch as any sort of villain.  "Tiberii said that?", rumbled the older male; already knowing the answer. 

"Uhh... I guess.  Why would I have any reason to harm you?" , looking even more confused now.  Did this kid think they where supposed to be competing here?
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^^The confusion written on Kuhn’s face was really all the answer he needed. He was not from the same dynasty that he had been, or a dynasty at all. A child had vouched for him, and Kuhn grew even more confused why he would have reasons to harm him.

“The place I came from, before I ended up here? It wasn’t a very nice place. Most of the male tigers were aggressive and ruthless towards each other. My life came to an end at the fangs of my own flesh and blood, so you can see why I’ve been careful around you. ” Arcane confessed, shaking his head.

“But it’s been exhausting and I’m tired of carrying on like this.”

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A tail twitched as the boy told his tale.  Apparently the child remembered his own death at the jaws of another Suncat.  Shifting in place, it all clicked together for Kuhn, I made sense why the young man was so wary of him.  

"Ahh... I see.", attentively the older male watched the upstart, taking a moment to think.  "You have nothing to fear from me.  We are here to build a new world together...", after all that is what Duskguard meant to him, it was a different sort of place, free of the petty squabbles of wolves, and the violent competition between Suncat.  Together, despite their differences, they could really make something great.  
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^^All this time, Arcane had kept Kuhn in his sights, ready to defend himself; expecting him to be as vicious as the ones back home. Expected, too, for Kuhn to laugh at him - to make things worse.

Instead, Kuhn did not laugh; did not grow violent. He offered a solution, one that - Arcane decided, he would like. A new world, together..

Something to look forward to.

“I would like that, very much..”

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& fade?

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