This journal is now retired! The new one is at kusani.

le_gris turned me onto this paint program called ArtRage, which basically simulates oil painting and other real media very realistically.

Silly, silly Gris. Now I'm all "whee~ PAINT" and such. And since gods knows I'm never going to manage any semblance of realism, I'm messing with more stylized methods. (Okami style is so gorgeous... I might actually figure out how to mimic it one day!)

( This took me about 45 minutes. )

This program is so much fun to play with. =3

"What is that?"

The grey-furred Nila looked up, no expression crossing his flattened face. Yellow eyes sought the origin of the inquisitive voice, but the forest greenery was thick and concealing. He drew his brows low to express disapproval. "It is a drum," he answered flatly, four-fingered hands stilled on the wooden carving. He had been binding the head of the drum, made of Leasheas hide, to the mouth.

"What's a ... drum?" the voice asked, carefully pronouncing the new word. "What's it do?"

( 'A drum is this. It makes noise.' )

Vaguely relates to this storybit about white Korats.

( The dark creatures with their slender haunches and burly forelimbs had invaded less than two months ago... )

To be continued...

' Even the most stable of environments can be corrupted with a push in the right place. And the ripples,' she said, touching a paw to the still surface of the puddle, 'are spreading.'

I looked at her, confused, and then peered at the water. Its skin shuddered and roiled in circles away as she lifted her paw from its liquid flesh. Droplets fell from her pawpads and claws, splattering down and creating their own disturbances.

'You'll feel it very soon, Mikra.' She was watching me as I looked up again. I tried to scrutinize her face, but it was foreign to me, as always-- the long fangs deceptively hidden, the antlers that dropped towards the earth and twisted like kelp and coral, the wise eyes glossed with a clear secondary eyelid. She might have been my kin, but she was not someone I could ever understand.

'You'll feel it soon,' she repeated to me, and her short muzzle stretched to seemingly smile at me. Then, she turned, and walked away.

I watched her go. What could I say? Nyra was honored for her wisdom; I couldn't exactly call her crazy and not feel heavy repercussions from my fellows.

I glanced back down at the puddle. The ripples had faded, but the silt and tiny rocks on its miniature shores had shifted. The mud at the very bottom hadn't moved.

I knew what Nyra expected; I knew she wanted me to find some meaning in her crypticism, some revelation in this puddle. All I could think of was that she would be unperturbed at the bottom of it all, like the mud, but the rest of us would feel it. Whatever 'it' was.

I must have spent an hour staring at that puddle, wracking my brain for what I was supposed to be seeing. The sun began to set, casting orange rays out across the forest that filtered through the limbs of the trees, and the puddle seemed to glow when the light touched it. It almost looked molten, and the very color appealed to me.

With the light glittering off the water's skin, it became evident that the ripples were not gone. They were very small, almost invisible, but with the soft breeze, they did not die, not even after they stopped moving grains of earth.

It occurred to me that this puddle combined all of us. The water, the earth, the wind, the light-- the fire. The fire was what lit the rest, and the wind moved it, and the earth held it, and the water... what, filled it? -was- it? sustained it? I felt I was on the right track...

...but then the sun descended too far, and the light left the puddle. It appeared placid and still once more, even though I sought out the ripples. There was nothing visible.

I got up, listening to my body come alive after sitting still for far too long. I stretched, and arched my neck and back, and then shook off. I stole one more glance at the motionless puddle, but there was no hidden wisdom there; the sunlight had left, and with it, all possible meaning.

I pushed myself into an easy lope and took the trail back home.

Faded, teal-hued eyes crack open and squint against the fading rays of the red sunset. The foliage looks so strange--broad-leafed in blues and greens, towering trees holding up the very sky with their gargantuan might. The soil is black, rich and fertile--smells of thick loam and decaying greens. The light is so bright to eyes that have not been unlidded in too long; pupils shrink until the black dots are lost in a sea of river-color.

Muscles that were once corded and thick flex experimentally, more sinew and withered strength than aught else--but the long-limbed Korat rises smoothly enough, massive tail strangely heavy behind her. Thick, dense fur has lost its gloss and shine, but the colors are still strong--deep coal-black streaked with greygold. A striped.

Cisekar is groggy from her long sleep and stumbles as she takes the first few steps towards the sound of running water, blindly seeking the liquid to wet her parched throat. She finds the stream and plunges her muzzle into the current, drinking deeply and heedlessly. The icy fluid freezes her throat and then chest as it passes through her, and she shivers.

'Finally waking up?' The voice is deep, thunder-like, but calm. The once-pretty striped lifts teal eyes to regard an impressive red Korat, all muscle and strong beauty... and nods slowly.

'I think so,' she answers wanly, straightening and then sweeping a low bow. The male snorts, then studies her with dusky indigo eyes and jerks his muzzle in a beckoning motion.

'Then let's go. You've work to do.'

So I do...

Cisekar follows the burgundy-furred male as he turns.

Title-- The Korat Runs
Rating and Warnings-- G; no warnings.
Species and Characters-- Species = Korat. Char = random white.
Summary and Notes-- Wrote this at work in an attempt to ignore "language" and write via [brackets], yet still have a coherent "story". This is a very, very short ficlet, thus it is uncut. Comments would be appreciated, regarding the style.

--------------------
Korat. White. Long legs, strong body--ivory fur, green eyes, white claws, white blade.

Going north--life-smell. Beginning shrugs, grass--it's blue. Clouds hide sun and glow like the moons--beautiful, rosy. Patches of sky are thick and clear like a slice of amethyst. Ground is cold, thawing, and dark.

Paws on earth, rough pads, hard soil. Claws dig in--roots for the tree of the beast. Long pelt ripples in run-wind like still lake surface before a storm.

Pause, glance. Sensations--warmth, curiosity, stable ground, fearlessness. Beauty in the living ivory sculpture.

Running again, airborne smells and shifting shadows speaking with silent voices across new lands. No hesitation, no caution--they are hidden. Running strong, hard--so beautiful, so proud.

Twin emeralds--living eyes--search the clouded sky. Peace.

Invigoration, with the next breath. Primal love for life and self wells up in silky breast--

The Korat runs.

Title-- The Paths We Take
Rating and Warnings-- PG-13 for violence and gore.
Species and Characters-- Species = Korat. Characters, all whites, are pack leader Figi, her mate Reri, Figi's brother Foru, Figi's and Foru's mother Ejigi (who is not in the little pack, but a nearby loner), and Ashiki, a random male in the pack.
Summary and Notes-- I just... wanted to get closer to whites, and I'd never written anything in detail about their arctic cultures, although that's why whites are temperamentally how they are as a stereotype. So, this is the result, and I really like it. Warning--it's long and will be continued.

( 'I've never seen one that big...' )

Title-- Just Like Old Times
Rating and Warnings-- PG for implied violence and explicit gore. Yay gore!
Species and Characters-- Species = Korat and Kumayaki, the latter of which is copyright tageera and used with her permission. Chars = Redwood & TFD, who is also Kay's.
Summary and Notes-- I owed Kay a shidbit with Redwood and TFD. This is it. XD!

( 'You could feel it...' )

Title-- Last Chances
Rating and Warnings-- PG-13 for violence and gore.
Species and Characters-- Species = Tarok, basically bipedal Korats that tend to be spacers. Species mentioned are Drakka (four-armed, three-eyed bipeds built like gorillas), furries (anthropomorphic animals), and Jhee (tall, lean, harmless scientists). Character is Amari, a bladeless black female, also a fugitive.
Summary and Notes-- Wrote it a while back, but it's still good. >D Heh heh heh. Just read it.

( 'After her! Don't let her escape again!' )

Title-- Morning After
Rating and Warnings-- G; no warnings, except a vague and philosophical mention of death. Oh, and a warning for severe cuteness. ^^;;
Species and Characters-- Species = Korat. Characters are Atumi, black male, and Jysulehn, red female (who is poetrywolf's char and used with permission), both of whom reside in KRPG.
Summary and Notes-- Disclaimer: these two characters, at the time in which this shidbit takes place, are not yet mates, merely courting. Therefore the immediate implications of "Morning After" are incorrect. ^^;; This takes place shortly after Black & White & Red All Over and therefore is soon after Wureshi's death. Which is several--ten?--years in the future of KRPG's current timeline.

( Death is a passing thing... )