[PRP] Two Blind Storytellers (Tonalhuiteca and Hototo)

[Geyser Eelborn]

Night. The dark. The sound of crickets. The cry of an owl. The soft squeaking of bats. Yes. This was when the world turned perfect. This was when Tonalhuiteca could see. When the sun was shining, he was so nearsighted as to be blind, but by the dark of night, his eyes could finally see, shapes, colors, people. In the firelight, he might struggle to see, but that was a minor inconvenience. Truth was, he left as soon as the embers died because that's when he could see. And if that wasn't enough, he would squeak like a bat and navigate by sound. His hearing wasn't quite as keen as a bat's, but it was nearly so. And thus, at night, Tonalhuiteca was not blind. He could see his way across this rocky highland to the far north, where the treeline finally fell to tundra. It was cold here; he was shivering. But he saw that he was not the only B'alam out here.

Out in the distance, he could see another--judging by the length of tail, a member of the ice tribe. Tonal had never met one. He'd met dark cats aplenty, and earth, of course, and a few fire and water, but never before in his life had he ever met an ice cat (to his knowledge). Keeping quiet, he made his way up to the stranger. He could be awake; he could be asleep. It would be imprudent to wake up the stranger. So he sat himself down a good fifteen tail-lengths away. Close enough to be spotted, but not so close as he could be attacked. Those long fangs would surely do more damage than his own petite, and the thick fur surely hid muscles of steel. No. Better not to risk it. Better to wait until the stranger awoke to properly meet him, or, if the sun rose before then, to hide and wait another day to meet one of the ice-folk.

elfstar89

For Hototo.

 

[elfstar89]

Hototo was lying on an outcrop of rock, listening sleeplessly to the cursed crickets. Didn't they know the rest of the world was trying to sleep??? It had to be night. It had gotten colder, and mostly quieter. Except for the cursed insects. Not that the night meant much of a different to Hototo.

Hototo couldn't remember seeing things, and that had generally been an annoyance. For Hototo had been born an old grumpybutt, a loner who didn't care much for company, and less for anyone who wanted to use him as foundation stock for a family.

He groaned and stuffed his head under his heavy paws, twitching his bobbed tail irritably. The bugs needed to zip it, before he started stumbling around in the eternal darkness that was his life, trying to eat them.

Blindness. Well, the Weaver had a warped sense of humor. Hototo hated company, and had to rely on others. All the more reason to never have offspring, if the Weaver was going to weave a blind Ice into the tapestry.

With how quiet the Shadow was being, Hototo would've missed his presence. But he could smell a B'alam's scent, slightly overlaid with old blood, though that could be his imagination, based on how very much Hototo wanted to kill for sleep.

"State name, business, and how and why the heck you found me, stranger," he growled. "I can smell you."

Geyser Eelborn

Delayed response much on my end. xp

 

[Geyser Eelborn]

Tonalhuiteca paused, and for a few moments, the only sound in that far-north tundra was the cheeping of crickets, scattered amongst the short, scraggled grass. The stranger said he could smell him--how odd. It was dark, and perhaps Ice Tribe was not blessed with the same night-sight as one of his own kind, and perhaps his hearing was not quite so keen as one with the pointed ears of the bat, but nonetheless, to be said to be smelt rather than to be heard or seen... It was intriguing, but Tonal was not the kind to ask. Instead, he walked closer to the other B'alam, this time waving his tail back and forth to make a rustle in the grass. The stranger was gruff, and he did not want to anger him into violence.

The stranger had asked a question, and the dark storyteller replied softly, "I am Tonalhuiteca, I come from the south to see what lies in the north. I found you by accident and by the bright colors of your coat. You smell of heather and pine," he added. Unnecessary, but the thought of smell brought the words, unbidden, to his tongue.

As he crept closer, he saw that the Ice Triber's eyes were as pale as his own--paler, even, as pale as fresh-fallen snow. They were...interesting, but as well-traveled and well-knowledged as Tonal thought he was, he had never yet encountered a blind B'alam before, truly blind, and as such the color had no significance to him.

elfstar89