Post by KASKA on Apr 11, 2015 17:27:45 GMT -5
ƙaska
Sun, rain, more sun. These were the two sole elements that seemed to penetrate the great depression carved into earth in spring. Surrounded by impoverished bodies and trapped within high walls, aside from the stench the heat and mud was the most damning thing about this place. So often had Kaska experienced it and yet she wasn't sure she'd ever grow accustomed to the discomfort. How could anyone? The filth clung to her legs below and the sun's existence seemed intent on scorching her back from above. It wasn't even summer yet and already it felt as if she might cook alive wrapped in a thick winter coat that hadn't shed yet. Still, she assumed it could have been worse. She could have been dumped here in the height of summer and she hadn't. It could have been pouring rain like it had the night before, but it wasn't. Her fur was still a little damp, something she was sure would swiftly dry out as the day dredged on, leave her in a mess of clumped hair and itchy patches. But the most horrendous thing to Kaska at this point was the boredom.
Tossed haphazardly across a boulder stained in suspicious substances, the she-wolf took to observing every smidgen of movement around her. First she stared into the clouds, tracking a great billowing mass that passed in the distance yet wasn't enough to block out the light. Kaska wasn't sure if she should pray for its relief or be glad it strayed out of the way. Hours later when at it at last traveled beyond her line of sight, her gaze dropped to the poor sods around her. Unlike the majority of these souls, Kaska hadn't been starved thin or beaten into some shell of a wolf. They shuffled around for any morsels that might have been overlooked, scratched feverishly at old sores that would never heal, hid in the shadows whenever a sentry stalked by overhead. Somewhere off in the pit she could hear the peculiar sound of someone grunting, but she didn't dare investigate the source. Instead she fixed her attention on a guard making rounds, shoving his way through the scattering of wolves and making every effort to knock each of them over. She snorted at his effort to appear something big and fierce. When he latched his eyes on her she shifted away, focusing on a rock at the base of where she'd perched herself. She'd never been good at making herself scarce, her effort found to be in vain. With a startled yelp he'd taken her by the scruff and tossed her forward and by then Kaska knew the routine that was expected of her. "Time to get rid of you, whelp." She skulked forward up the path.
Here she was again midst a sea of eyes that washed over her as if she were no more than a speck of sand. If ever there were wolves to know Auktion Rock better than they'd known any home, Kaska was a sure bet to be one of them. A mere three months had passed since the last time she'd been tossed into the pits, a mere three months since she'd ambled to stage and lasted the hawking of the slavers trying to get rid of her. Her previous master was to be payed a week in bountiful hunting grounds at her expense, and that was it. Just another slave worth no more than seven days of one's life. How many times had it been? As Kaska glanced around the familiar space and wall of disinterested faces, she couldn't really recall anymore. Someone barked out her perceived qualities, why anyone should want her. She was a grand conversation, they'd say, or some nice juicy scrap of meat to chew on when you were bored. Not this scene again. Screw it, thought Kaska, knowing exactly where lies and false expectations had landed her so far. She'd take this into her own paws.
"I'm a dreadful hunter," came her own proclamation. To her satisfaction the thunder of noise that always seemed to weigh this place fell to stunned silence and she could have heard a pebble drop. Someone coughed in surprise at her audacity to speak and she smirked at the twisted face of the guard. "I think I've caught six, maybe seven rabbits in my life and two of them were already dead! And gods, good luck trying to sleep with me in the den. I've been told I snore something awful." The disgruntled brute that had announced her lurched forward with a snarl that cast the she-wolf's auds back in the same motion. "You will not speak, girl!" He roared this in her face so fiercely she could swear she caught steam billowing from his nostrils. She should have been a smart sklavin and fallen belly up at his paws, but Kaska never claimed to be smart. Her lips pulled up in her own defense, a foolish move at best, fatal at worst, but she found herself caring very little. "Hey, you want to get rid of me once and for all, right? They might as well know what they're getting this time." Perhaps it was not the wisest way to go about getting herself out, but she saw no need for false pretenses.
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