Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ It's buried in your bones, I see it in your closed eyes. ~
~ Fleurie

Careful, inexperienced steps turned into the routine of a tango with herself: one paw reaching out, a back leg dragging along the floor to catch up with the move, a leg crossing over to dip herself into a spin, and tumbling down onto the floor in a mocking love song to the lover's descent. Her mouth hung open - she had not quite learnt what it meant to keep it shut yet, did she not have to breathe through it - and chin collided heavily with the ground. Not quite the kiss to expect during such a dance. Pain shot through her head and ran down her spine ending at her tail which gave an aggravated flick that disturbed small rocks and dust, clouding her in dark particles.

How dare it drop her so and cause her pain, as if this ground was stronger than her. Akaari lay flat out on the ground yes, like a pancake with all four paws stretched on all sides, her neck and chin pressed against the floor in a very much uncomfortable position. She was also pretty sure something hard and pointy and had many sharp edges was pressing against her stomach. The young girl, in a fit of rage for this tunnel (the tattered rags that were her undeveloped brain were quite sure that she did not like this place and it was out to get her), picked up one of her large and disproportioned paws and slammed it as powerfully as she could against the floor. Well, that did more harm than good. It made her feel so much better though.

One paw was not enough. Like a flying starfish, the leopard picked up all four legs at once and pounded the ground with them. Yeah, take that! And that! And this!Small stones were getting stuck in-between her paw pads and soil was sticking to her pelt as she began to roll around on the floor, picking up larger rocks as she went, holding them with all four limbs and throwing them up into the air and against the walls before rolling away again so they didn't fall back onto her head. Oh yes, this tunnel was getting a piece of her mind. Once she reached one side her legs would press against it all as one and push her back, legs flopping to the other side to do it all over again.

She would probably be having fun if this wasn't a super serious attack on the tunnel, obviously. It was war and the cub was winning. She had soil particles covering her lips and tongue - from where her mouth refused to stay shut - and they had a taste which seemed...odd, but oh so good. Rocks were clinging to her fur, and her tail, after multiple and completely successful hits against the tunnel wall, had fibres of green glowing things sticking to it. "Hurt me, I hurt back!" Inexperienced words in an inexperienced mouth though they had all the force behind them of a war master, and the lingering taste of the strange soil.

~~~~
@Game Master Dark
I tagged your face, now reply with someone please

The little rat was up on one of the ledges that ran the length of the tunnel--in broken stretches, certainly, but he made do. It was the sound of combat that drew him. A pause, whiskers twitching; an evaluation of the danger, and then he was scurrying forward in little hops and rushes.

He rounded a corner, and down below spotted... a kitten? No; a cub, of some kind, large and pale, apparently playing with the tunnel wall, or trying to dig a hole, or... something. He studied her, for a moment, squatting back on his haunches and sitting up to watch. Only when she threatened the very stone (or maybe the dirt, or the moss--Archimedes wasn't wholly sure) did he speak up, calling down to Akaari with a bemused tone.

"What was it that hurt you, cub?" he asked, and then in his most calming tone, "I have been keeping watch over you for a few moments," (half a lie) "and I can assure you that you're entirely safe."

At least, she was now; but whatever had come before had certainly gotten dirt and rocks all over her.

How strange.

@Akaari

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ I should be at church but I'm raging on a Sunday ~
~ Bhones

The tunnel did not seem to be giving in to her aggressive and highly professional demands, it was as if it did not care about her or what she was doing. That was just wrong.

The sound of a voice rushed over her, soothing her prickled fur and laying to rest the sudden threat of her tail which hissed much like a rattle snake, the wrinkles that appeared on her nose as she scrunched up her face relaxed quite quickly, her eyes delivering a slow blink as if she was delirious. "Tripped me!" She was led on her back, head tilted at all angles to try and get a good look at wherever the words originated from. "Safe?" A foreign word delivered by a foreign thing, she didn't feel as if it fit though she also did not have the knowledge to argue with him against it. She waved her paws around, unsure what exactly to point at so instead she pointed at everything and anything. "Bad guy." The base of her head was pressed against the floor and she was tilting so far back in order to try and see who was speaking that her nose was almost touching it also. Someone small

Paws that were held absentmindedly in the air now flopped down to the ground and the young cub - with eyes glaring at the ground just daring it to try something - rose up to stand. Her large paws scraped against the ground and cupped as much soil as she could. "Take this! Help me." She shoved the paw full of soil out to the small man standing high up with a sudden move, then, as if to demonstrate what she wanted him to do with it, she ducked her head down and ran her tongue along to ground and swallowed the soil, all while trying to balance precariously on three legs. Grinning and nodding her head as she waited for him to come down, yes, she was sure she got that right, he must eat it too. Though she wanted them to stand and fight the glowing walls and scattered stones as soon as her mind focused on it the actions needed to be taken soon slipped away and her lungs breathed a smoother rhythm. She didn't need to fight it, but why not, it hurt her, didn't it? No, safe, that word repeated in her head like a ghost's echo and wouldn't leave her be. "Safe man mine." Right? He said he was watching over her and he said it was safe, and he came when she was being attacked, obviously that meant he was hers.

@Archimedes

Whiskers moved as nose worked, and he sat back and stared at the speaking cub, trying to figure out what she'd... said, or meant, or... wanted. Small pink hands lifted, running over his snout as he considered.

Something had tripped her, and by the looks of the empty tunnel (and, to his brief sniff, the lack of any other scent) it must have been rocks, a root, or her own paws. Something--the tunnel, Archimedes thought--was the 'bad guy.' And she wanted him to--eat dirt..? One eye narrowed a tad, the other's brow arching a bit higher, as he tried to work that one out. And she'd lost him at "safe man mine." He did not know what a man was, and he had no idea what it was that she was asking to be hers, or asking if it were hers, or what have you.

"My dear," he offered, in a vaguely condescending tone, "I've no idea what you're aiming for, there, but I can assure you that you don't need to eat the dirt. It won't help anything," he added. Given her simplistic words, he guessed that she was fairly newly-hatched and this, at least, he could work with.

Assuming she wasn't as useless as the others. Like that black-furred brat that had flopped down, thrown a fit, and refused to move. The little rat shuddered at that memory.

He turned, scurrying down to the tunnel floor, though careful as yet to keep his distance. He didn't know if this particular cub would suddenly decide that rat was more appetizing than dirt; hell, perhaps she'd been asking him to feed her himself. He couldn't really tell.

"I am Archimedes; and I can get you better food, if you say 'please,'" he suggested, and again sat back with a brief comb of paws through whiskers. He kept his attention, casual as his body language was, on the cub--if she changed, if she showed any signs of leaping for him, of sly sidling forward, well. It'd be time to bail.

@Akaari

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ They never can know what I am made of, the strenth of my soul. ~
~ Rosaline Kurian

My dear. His tone didn't seem to match the words, something off about the way he said it though she could not tell what nor why, though the words themselves etched themselves into the half-formed pillars of her mind. Confirming her erratic thoughts. Yes. "My dear? Your dear? No, my dear... What's a dear?. He had many words that flowed out of him so fluidly, no trouble in finding the syllables in the air and dragging them towards him just to cast them out in a melody that was a symphony to her wiggling ears. The more he spoke the more she knew. Stretching her neck towards him, though not moving from her spot, as if she might be able to physically see how he was saying so much. Her mouth moving up and down with his, no words coming out other than a hushed breath that lingered around her teeth as they clashed together as she copied him.

Don't eat the dirt he said, and since the only thing she was shoving into her mouth was the sweet tasting brown stuff she could only gather that that was the dirt. Why not eat it? It was dry, and scraped against her throat, and the only thing that was really good about it was the taste but she could eat it and that's the important part right? She watched him intently for a moment, the moving of his mouth as if she could actually see the words coming out, she movement of his nose and tiny tiny hands, then glanced back down at the dirt below her. Her eyes flicked up and down between them a few more times before, as if to challenge his point of view, she took a large bite out of the ground. Her teeth scraping against rocks, sending ripples of such a horrible feel through her, and her nose getting scrunched up and pushed against the ground. It wasn't very successful as she came away with very little dirt but damn if she wasn't going to prove him wrong.

She really wanted to spit it out through, it was all gristly, and getting in-between her teeth and under her tongue and in her cheek. With a very forced swallow and a 'beat that' grin she was quite pleased with herself.

"Please." She sat back on her own two haunches too and brought her front paws up to scrape against the side of her face and the whiskers there, copying him through this ritual. Taking a few steps back she began to stare at the ground, expecting the appearance of this so called 'better food'. But nothing happened. "Please." Her tone became a little more impatient, going through the ritual of patting the side of her face and sitting back then staring at the ground. Nothing happened. "You're wrong." Where was her better food? She was getting more and more sure that the dirt was her food, she was no longer how sure she was about how pleased she'd be with that though.

Maybe he meant the weird glowing walls since they were close, green looked tastier than brown. Her eyes darted over to the walls and the green fibres there. Maybe...

@Archimedes

Archimedes had little experience with children, but her mannerisms--bumbling, innocent, and even mimicking--were obviously not those of an adult. Her passing her own paws through kitten whiskers was... amusing, though it did little more, it seemed, than spread the dirt. He still could not quite fathom why she was eating that. Yes, there was a faint sweet smell to the air, but surely the ground itself was not edible-? He also would not have thought a carnivore to like such things, but it might be all the better for what he had in mind. He didn't know for sure.

For a long moment, he concentrated; and when she said "please," he was ready. At least if she likes sweet, he told himself, and rapidly split the peel of the forming banana three ways. He pushed it--an open, magical banana, appearing from thin air--toward the cub.

"And when someone offers you a gift, for which you're grateful, you say 'thank you,'" he explained, his tone kind and patient, though the kindness didn't reach his small, dark eyes. He waited, then; he knew the effects. The banana was nutritious for any species--a product of its magical nature, he supposed--but it tended to make the eater glow and sparkle for awhile after. He waited, and then spoke further, ignoring some of the other things she'd said. Such as, "you're wrong." He wasn't sure what she'd meant, and it didn't particularly matter.

"I imagine you eat meat, and not fruit, or... soil," he began, glancing at the dirt. "You likely eat things that look like me. There are mice my size, and rats--but those are larger, and more fierce; and things like deer, and birds. I can show you those, if you want, and how to hunt them." It was all said slowly. He doubted a child would understand it all, but perhaps the words would help her learn and in any case, trying was all that he could do.

"'My dear' is a term of... well, endearment, from an older to a younger, I think. But do you have a name, instead? Mine is Archimedes," he went on, studying the cub.

How big would she get-? A little larger, a big-pawed cat; or a massive predator? Given her size and proportions, he was guessing the latter, but it was hard to really tell.

@Akaari

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ They never can know what I am made of, the strenth of my soul. ~
~ Rosaline Kurian

Some, more primal, part of her young mind had focused upon him as more than just a stranger she had claimed, her bright eyes constantly going back to look over the small brown animal, before losing concentration and flicking to something else that seemed more interesting; glowing walls, flickering lights just out of her reach, the way her tail moved against the floor, the falling of rocks after they dislodged themselves from the wall. So much to see in such a small tunnel. So much to taste (that glowing moss was looking more and more appetising, not due to the face that it was moss but because it was glowing, and glowing was interesting and interesting meant edible). The small animal had nothing to fear from the young cub, he was not quite interesting enough to register as edible in her mind yet.

The grey creature, that at this point was more fluff and awkward limbs than anything that resembled a true carnivore, was impatient to receive that which she was promised, dirt clumped around her lips and smothering her cheeks could not dampen the excitement she was feeling for something new. Then yellow. Sudden and definitely not there moments before. Akaari jumped high in the air and back, all paws splaying out and her tail frantically waving behind her, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Well, okay then, what the hell was that! "What? I...You.. That! I want!" Fast half words and fractured thoughts spilled out of her, as if she needed to say something but she didn't know what. Wait. She did need to say something. "Thank you." She prodded the open banana with her nose first, all squishy and a texture she couldn't quite place before trying to shove the full thing in her mouth at once. It appeared out of nowhere, it was definitely interesting enough to be edible. The banana she was able to get down her throat and not smother all around her lips settled in her peacefully, giving her a warm feeling and - if a child could ever be without energy - refilled any she might have lost in the few moments of meeting this weird guy. She also felt some sort of tingling on her skin, though perhaps that was just the fulfilled feeling. "If you're not...grateful?" That was the word he used, right? What do you say then instead of thank you? Now, that wasn't to say she wasn't grateful, she enjoyed everything he was telling her, whether she'd follow these 'rules' or not was another thing, and that yellow thing did taste good. Definitely better than the soil stuff. "Can I get everywhere?"Her tongue licked her lips, thinking back to the mere seconds before and the yellow food that was now very happily in her stomach, she wanted more but what if she wasn't here when another one fell?

Meat. Fruit. Mice. Rats. Deer. Birds. Hunt. Her eyes were getting wider with each new thing, toes doing little tippy taps on the ground in her attempts to try and contain the excitement. Oh yes, she wanted, or perhaps needed, to see all of them. Distracted slightly only by his name, and the word endearment, however that related to the word dear she liked the sound of it. Though there was a question she was not too confident with answering, her throat tightened at that thought, something she didn't really know, what if it was important? Would something bad happen if she couldn't give him an answer? "Akaari." Said quickly, laced with fear that it was wrong but that mismatch of syllables and sounds was the first thing that came to her head so it was the first thing she would blurt out. Everything had to have an answer.

"You show me to all that," she could almost feel the gears working in her mind trying to find the word he said she had to use, it was like trying to grab an eel, she'd grasp it then it would slip away. "Please?" The cub was yet to have looked at herself, she wasn't that vain, but as she put one foot forward - she had it in her mind that she could grab him and place him on her back or just carry him and run off to wherever he pointed, wouldn't that be fun - her eyes caught sight of her leg. Not unusual at all, that is if you neglect to mention the fact that she was glowing and sparkly! "Seeing this!" She waved that paw in front of him, never taking her eyes off it, what was going on? Her head twisted to look at the other leg, perhaps it wouldn't be the same, but it was. She picked both forepaws up then to wave in front of him, off-balancing herself and falling backwards onto her back, everywhere was glowing! "Glow! Like the walls!" She was laughing though, grabbing her tail and waving it in front of her own face to watch the sparkles before attempting to shove the same tail in Archimedes' face.

Bonus gif of how Akaari reacted to banan (the adult here)

@Archimedes

Archimedes watched as the cub went through surprise, realization, desire, gratitude. It was a whirling display of words and emotion, and he could practically read the thoughts dancing through her mind.

"You're welcome," he answered, mildly, to her 'thank you.' She learned fast, it seemed. And he laughed--quiet, subdued--at her question. Well, her first question. "If you're not grateful?" A pass of claws through whiskers, and he eyed her, dark eyes glinting. "Then you don't say thank you." She could figure out what to say based on the situation; he hardly had the ability to go through it all, and so he didn't try. Instead he waited, and her next question had him pondering for a moment. 'Can I get everywhere?' He was unsure what she meant, by this.

"Are you asking if you can reach everywhere? You'll be limited by your physical ability, your cunning, and your magic." He left these hanging, tantalizing invitations toward further questions, if her mind demanded any further answers; and then moved on. "Good to meet you, Akaari." Then she was asking to be shown everything--with a 'please,' no less!--and then noticing her sparkle, showing it to him, laughing and thrusting her fluffy tail his direction.

He gently pushed one paw for it, though the tail alone, even on a cub, was larger than his body--moving to push it out of his vision so he could see Akaari, still. The ghost of a smile seemed to lace the rat's lips. "You are glowing, yes; that's magic. From the banana, which I created for you," he explained. "It will wear off soon."

Archimedes turned, then, pushing up onto all fours and sniffing. Past the sugary-sweet scent was the faint odor of mouse--he wasn't quite sure which variety, but it was that faint odor of fur and urine that the lesser creatures tended to sport.

"This way," he suggested, and began to scurry off along the tunnel. He weaved over a bit of dirt, backtracked, and then curved around a few boulders--sniffing in among them, following the scent.

"There--do you smell that? That's a mouse. It's food," he explained. His eyes caught the glint, then, of a Jungle Mouse's bioluminescent flashing--down in among the rocks, no doubt having wandered in from Eridanus. Maybe searching out some sweet food for itself; he didn't know.

"You can find that, and bite it, and kill it--then it's food, like the banana," he explained. And then he scurried up--onto a boulder, out of range of the cub's (potential) first hunt; he didn't want to accidentally wind up the prey.

There he sat back, washing his face. "You can see its lights, if you look closely," he added, showing little emotion for the mouse's possible fate.

@Akaari

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ They never can know what I am made of, the strenth of my soul. ~
~ Rosaline Kurian

She grinned, a great Cheshire cat baring her fangs to glint in the light, pride enveloping her in a complicated twist of pure glee at the laughter that emanated from the rat - even as quiet as it was - and confusion to what the sound was beside the fact that she felt it was positive. She cocked her head at the thought of their being exceptions to the rule though, that she perhaps even more pleased about, exceptions meant gaps and gaps meant she could play around without technically going outside of the rules. "Say 'mine' instead." She nodded her head at that, a single affirmative nod, very delighted with that answer she gave him, and the little insight. She would allow him to use the answer too.

His confusion to what she meant unnerved her a little, frustration building in the cauldron bubbling at her heart, though the contents quickly settled, spilling over to ignite the flame in her mind. Now, what was that he said. The words caught her, a fish hook against her skull reeling her in and she was defenceless against him, unable to resist. "Magic?" The single word, a whisper upon her lips, as if just mentioning it was forbidden and the knowledge would slip from her never to be caught again. That she needed to know as if to not would make her life a mere ghost in comparison. The glowing of her body seemed to flare again, she was lost, hovering above herself and looking down at something magical, beyond comparison. He must be a master, something she should aspire to be, creating something out of nothing - was that not the best! "Don't wear off." More of a plea to the glow than a demand for him to make it stay, actually muttered into her tail as if it could hear her.

Moving. Oh, they're moving now! She remained still at first, unsure if her doing anything would unsettle his concentration but as soon as he darted off as if he was an arrow let loose from the bow she bounded after him. More hops than a graceful run. Her head darting back and forth as he tried to make up his mind to wherever he was going, tongue dangling at as she marked his every movement. Studying the way he sniffed, the way he moved, how fast he could go around corners and how long it would take him to stop. As if each decision he made was recorded down in some leather-bound book residing in her mind. He was becoming both her teacher and her subject.

Her nose went down to the ground, sniffing this way and that, catching the earth like scent of the mouse and its stronger rodent scent that both made her mouth drawl and nose scrunch in distaste. "Find, bite, kill." Repeated back to him in a hush, her body having already lowered to the ground in something more instinctual than conscience. She was beginning to like him, answering questions and, more importantly, giving her more questions, and feeding her! That was glorious!

With a flick of her eyes, though no movement from her body, she watched him scurry away to watch, a quiver of her lips in response. She did not want to disappoint him. See the lights he said, so that was what she did. Head low, tail a slow movement behind her, ears swivelling with every sound. Though relying more on her sense of smell, which was in all honesty not too good at this point, out of the corner of her eyes she saw the glow of the mouse bouncing off one of the rocks. Moving behind it, did it know they were there? Was it waiting to run away or waiting to attack her right back? She couldn't help herself though, the flutter of a light darting this way, dots of luminescence coming right back, her head snapping with it and she could almost feel her eyes boring into it. But it wouldn't stay still and she didn't want to wait. She wanted to prove to him that she could do this, and sitting there doing nothing was proving nothing. She swiped forward after the lights rather than the mouse, large paws attempting to come down onto it, forgetting the fact that it was behind rocks and she should have first tried to coax it out. It ran. Away from her paw, she could almost hear the scuttering of its legs against the ground, her head snatched down after it, jaws smacking together on nothing but thin air. If she was really trying to be optimistic she would tell herself that she could just feel the tail against her teeth before it got out of her grasp. That, of course, was not quite true.

"Do I chase now?" Was he disappointed in her, she should have caught it the first time, but she could run after it and bring it back to him. Right? Only now, looking back up at him with wide, imploring eyes, one paw still pressed against the rock the mouse had hid behind, did she notice how similar they looked. Granted he was larger and darker, but the did look similar. Was he a mouse? "Are you food?" It was curiosity that was in her tone not a predator's desire, he was far too useful for that right now.

@Archimedes

"Yes. Now, you chase," he answered, his tone one of calm indifference. Instructional, not disappointed, not urging. And he paused, hands lowering to peer at her, as she asked if he were food. Good; a good question, and one presented clearly rather than beneath the big cub's paws.

"No. I am not food," he answered, and then considered. He thought about what to say, and what to keep to himself. What to share. What to hide. And the why behind each, quickly, though he revealed none of this. At length he offered--turning to watch her, to see if she chased the mouse--"Many of us speak. Many don't. Those who speak are the ones that aren't food," he explained, "and there's an unwritten rule never to eat the ones who can talk. If you do, everyone winds up... angry with you, and might eat you, instead." Simplified, a tad, and still delivered with that instructional tone--but true enough, nonetheless. "There are... exceptions, to that, but I can't tell you of those now. Maybe, in time, if you stick with me." Dark eyes watched her, studied her, whiskers in their constant tremble.

"As for magic," Archimedes went on, turning and leaping onto another rock, closer to the cub, "It's a power we all have. The banana was magic. Magic can make all sorts of things. I can teach you... if you want." He sat back on his haunches, again, forepaws lightly touching the rock beneath, again studying the snow leopard cub.

Thinking.

The rat then turned, a series of quiet squeaks and grunts escaping him. They seemed deliberate, a strange echo of the sounds that Jungle Mice made--a vocal species, and one he'd come across often enough. A social one. And he was imitating their own communication, now; a reassurance, a call from one mouse to another, trying to coax this one out of hiding... or at least to calm it, long enough for the cub to pounce.

@Akaari