Shimo-mbari Contest - WINNERS p.7!!!!!!!!! | Page 6 | [OOC] Events [OOC] | Guild Forums

MoonRazor

Offline

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 8:55 am

I want to play the Head Hunter!
Username: MoonRazor
Prompt Response:

There were stories that roamed the land, whispers that drifted amongst the creatures of the Shimo-mbari and beyond that said that Koa was the most beautiful lion in all the land. Beauty, of course, lay in his rugged features and his flaxen hair and his honeyed tongue. Rumor had it that Koa’s smirk alone could halt a stampeding herd, that his silken mane attracted flocking birds hoping to find but a single stray hair to add to their nests, that his eloquently-turned words could charm the crocodile queen herself.

Koa was not a lion to deny himself such priceless publicity. Indeed, if there was but one lion in all the land that believed such tales of his beauty, then he would swear on the life of his unborn first child that they were the whole truth and nothing but. The validity of such a proclamation coming from such a lion was entirely contestable – Koa didn’t place much stock in things that did not exist or had yet to exist – but where honor failed him, charm took its place and most times, even non-believers came to believe.

But even those blind to his physical perfection could say nothing when it came to his hunting skills. They called him Baneslayer when they thought he wasn’t listening; it was a name that he both cherished and despised. He had been given it after what many considered his greatest hunt – the most promising hunt he had ever conducted, and the most amazing spectacle he would ever manage. That hunt had been a bold testament as to what Koa was capable of, what he was, and most held it as a standard against which all his other hunts would be measured. And they would all fall short of the mark.

Everyone believed it but Koa. He held inside him a bitter resentment against them all for that, but he couldn’t begrudge their eagerness to hear his story.

“It began as a typical day,” he announced to the crowd, drawing himself to his full height, so that he towered in the center of the throng of creatures and his voice rang loud and clear across the gathering. At his feet lay the thick trunk of a fallen tree, an ominous representation of Koa’s legendary prey. “The sun rose from the plains to set in the mountains; lions woke and slept and woke again.” He began to pace along the perimeter of his audience, making full use of the space that had been left him out of respect and admiration. “Little did I know… I would have snatched my life out of the jaws of death before the night came.”

His claws slipped into the open, digging light troughs into the ground with every step, and with every step his muscles tensed and he slung his body deeper and lower to the ground to imitate the quiet movements of a hunting cat. “A lone antelope had crossed my path. She wandered toward the river. I followed, intending to bring home the prize, when she suddenly caught my scent and bounded away. I followed. She twisted, she turned, she leaped high and then low, and all the while, I followed. And then…” His voice rose in a crescendo of words and intensity and then, as swiftly as it had come, it faded. He paused, golden eyes sweeping the crowds intently as they waited with bated breaths for him to continue. “And then the water came. She leaped the river with her long, graceful legs and I foolishly tried to follow. Foolishly, for there in the river, lying in wait… sat Bane.” He ended with a hiss, and though the crowd had heard it all before, an audible gasp went up into the still air.

“Bane was hungry that day. She hadn’t eaten but for some small fish in the murky waters, and she was waiting. Waiting for prey, waiting for something larger to fall into her domain. She came at me with slitted eyes flashing, her vicious claws slashing, rudder tail thrashing through the water. But most of all… she came at me with her jaws. I could see her rows of teeth hurtling toward me, and the lion-like snarl that rumbled out of her draconian depths. She was intent on hunting me down, like no other crocodile has ever hunted a lion.

“But I would not let her.” He snarled, pounding the ground with a paw. His claws tightened, drawing thick gashes into the ground. “I found my balance, gathered my strength, and even as I stared into her jaws and certain death, and told myself ‘Not today.’ I twisted, and I leaped, and in the next moment, I was on her back and sinking my claws and teeth into whatever I could reach.” He leaped atop the old log, slashing voraciously at its peeling bark. “But she was strong. We battled for an eternity, and in desperation, she sank below the surface. In that moment, it became clear. I reached for her belly, where there were no scales and no armor, and I ripped old Bane open from stomach to jaw.

“She died then and there, and her thick, hideous body sank to the depths, never to be seen again.”

He was panting by the time he was done, almost as worn out in the retelling of the story as he had been in the incident itself. For it was both an honor and a chore each time he told it, and it was as much a mental battle for him as it was a physical.

Still, there was nothing for him to do but to agree, to smile and to take it all in with his trademark air of arrogance. For he had said it himself, had all but christened himself with the name that he both loved and hated. He was Baneslayer, and there was nothing to be done about that.

Do you understand the IC responsibilities you might have if you win?: Yup!