[Sanctuary] Of Cats and Curiosity [Mao]

[Raiha]

Closed. Mao, please.

45th of Summer, 510 AV.

It was early morning in Sanctuary, early enough that the sun was just cresting the waves, bringing light to the day. Raiha loved twilight - it was a magical time between light and day, when Syna and Leth almost touched. She was up early - but she usually was, unless she had been up excessively late the night before (or up all night, really; it had been known to happen) - and washed quickly. The Akontak always liked the times where work was quiet and peaceful, and with the various guests they had coming in and out these days, it was easier to slip out relatively unnoticed in the morning or in the late evenings to get done what she wanted to get done when there was something that attracted her attention. There were clouds overhead, but, the Akontak reflected as she trotted down the stairs with a hawk on a leather-covered gauntlet and an enormous grey and white dog on her heels, tail wagging as Raiha headed for the woods beyond the pastures. Despite living in Mura all of her life, Raiha had spent the last couple years developing habits of solitude and isolation that involved her, a hawk, and a dog. Sure, there were people here she was comfortable with, but old habits were hard to break.

The leggy young woman was dressed in simple, functional clothes. They were well-worn, but well taken care of; leather boots and dark leather trousers combined with a grey sleeveless cotton shirt that exposed her midsection. Considering the heat of summer, it may have been no surprise to see her in lighter garments. Her long white hair was braided to the tips in one long plait, secured with a piece of cord. A thick leather belt encircled her hips, sporting a couple of sheathed weapons and some leather pouches hanging from it. Her hands, from her wrist to her elbows, were covered in leather gauntlets, the type one used for birds. She didn't look back over her shoulders to see if anyone was about or looking or even watching, but set off at a brisk pace beside the gallivanting Deerstalker. She smiled down at Diallo, and reached with her free hand to scruff his ears fondly. It's a good day to go hunting, Kanikra commented as Raiha held Uzima up. The goshawk flared her wings. Excited!

The dog and the Akontak scaled the fence, and Raiha brought Uzima to her chest again. It's a great day. It's cooler, too... so we'll see what we can find. All nature stirs before a storm, and with luck, we'll find something big, she told her twin thoughtfully. That was true. They might land a pheasant or two. That would go over well if they could bring them back to Sanctuary and throw them in a pot or stove, and do something with them. There were always mouths to feed, and nothing that came in to Sanctuary never went to waste. She checked the groundhog dens first, to make sure they were still empty. She hadn't seen any groundhogs in a couple days, but she was sure she'd gotten most of them, and those that remained had better keep their tails out of their pastures. The dog followed along, and Raiha released the goshawk, sending the bird winging into the sky. Time to hunt!

[Mao]

Sanctuary was beginning to rub off on her. Something Mao had to grudgingly accept, although it was hard to ever consider attempting to tame the feral creature she was, her common bouts of bloodthirsty cravings was beginning to be kept to a minimum. Whether it was due to the menacing collar she wore every day or because Kavala’s healing had done wonders on her even she was not sure. However, even one blood spilt from a victim would set her off, and that raging beast that she hid quite well would explode from her very being and consume anything in her path.

By this time, she had learned where Sorian had kept the key to her restraints, and when her bondmate slept, she often made it a habit to escape the confines of her “prison” (as she put it), to stretch her legs under the cover of night or early morning. He had grown more protective of her after her near death experience battling a glassbeak, much to her annoyance, but at least in this way, she would revel in her partial freedom and return when she wished. Her wounds had since healed, and she was able to shift to her human guise once more.

As the days dragged on, it was also becoming increasingly harder for the kelvic to get a good night’s rest. There was something stirring in the pit of her stomach, which she understood deep in the back of her mind, but was unwilling to accept just yet. She would toss and turn, much like how she was at this very moment, awake and furious at her lack of sleep. She stood still in the bed, staring up at the ceiling for a few drawn out seconds before pushing herself off and silently lowering herself down to the floorboard. The key was hidden beneath a loose one, which Mao promptly extracted and worked on the leather strap wrapped tightly around her neck.

She wore nothing at the moment, but decided on donning a simple white dress on her way out of Sanctuary. Her presence as a cat would spark an alarm, something she wouldn’t want to deal with, having gone through plenty of mishaps in the past. Indeed, Mao would wait until she was far enough into the Sea of Grass before she would shift, however, as she was beginning to trek her way through the cluster of buildings, she had come upon a rather unusual figure.

Blue skin, white hair, tall and female. An incredibly odd sight even under the veil of twilight and the soft light that enveloped the land. Curiosity was egging her on in tantalizing whispers. The downfall of the feline, but Mao had been curious many times before now, and has always ended up escaping nearly unharmed. Tread with caution, however, that was what instinct always implied and emphasized.

She did as such, approaching the woman from behind, slowly, carefully and deadly silent. But it wouldn’t take long before her dog and goshawk took note of her scent on the wind. Mao spoke, nonetheless. “You, woman…” She trailed off, gazing at the bird for a moment as it flew up high, then her pale eyes landed on the Akontak once more. “I haven’t seen you before… Where have you been hiding?” She raised her head and seemed to sniff at the air between them. Ah, but her scent was vaguely familiar. She has been around, but never seen by her own eyes.

[Raiha]

Raiha watched Uzima move up above the trees, and followed her goshawk's progress on foot... though she stayed behind a little bit. Chances were, Uzima would quickly find some game, and unless it was necessary to scare them out, Raiha let the bird hunt. All the while, she browsed the ground for clues about what to look for. At one point, she crouched at one point to see the brush rabbit tracks, checking them over with the length of her fingers. She would find them somewhere... but only if Uzima didn't return anything on her own. One way or another, something would be found today, by Raiha or Diallo or Uzima, and food would be brought back. She was straightening and prepared to continue on again, preparing to activate Auristics. It was something she needed to practice, something she needed to seriously improve upon. This wasn't Mura, after all... not that Raiha minded. The more she went on, the more she learned, the more she found Auristics could have numerous useful applications in what she did on a daily basis, and she would only discover them by getting better at it. So practice it was. Now you're learning. Use it often. Use it frequently. The better you get at it, the better you're going to be. Kanikra told her, always there, always present. Raiha couldn't hide anything from her twin... just as her twin couldn't hide anything from her.

I know, Raiha got up, leaving the bush rabbit tracks alone for now. If you'll let me be, I'm going to start practicing... Diallo turned around, barking at Mao, but he didn't charge at the stranger. He didn't leave Raiha's side. He'd smelled her scent around Sanctuary before, and seeing as nothing bad had happened... he wasn't too worried. It was more of a bark to let Raiha know she was there than to warn Mao off. There was no threat implied by the dog's actions. While the Kelvic may not have seen the blue-skinned woman around, she may well have seen the enormous grey and white beast around, and she'd certainly smelled him. His scent was almost everywhere in Sanctuary, and the way he was with the blue-skinned woman, he was probably her pet. They had a scent that went like that - both bore parts of the smell of the other. Raiha turned, then, her heavy braid flying over her shoulder with the swiftness of the motion, landing on her back with a thump. Gold eyes met green as she tried to place the female who came up behind her. Diallo wasn't alarmed by her approach or her scent. So, that meant, logically, she probably shouldn't be, either.

Judging from the direction from which she came, she had come from Sanctuary, which... would explain why Diallo wasn't upset, either. That left Raiha wondering just who this was as she rested her hand on the Deerstalker's head, and tilted her head slightly, a small smile coming onto her lips. "I've been working," she explained. "I work at Sanctuary. I'm a falconer, healer, and Mewsmistress," she explained. Raiha hadn't been around Kelvics for most of her life, but this one... this one had something in her manner that told her she might, quite possibly, be looking at one. There was one way to be sure, of course, without asking. She concentrated, activating her Auristics, bringing to life the swirling colours that defined one's aura, and focusing on the wild, beautiful colours that defined Mao's, searching only for one thing: her age.

At her primitive skill, it took some doing, hardly more than a second or two, though it seemed to Raiha like it took a while. She was three and a half years old. But she was full-grown. She relaxed, and inclined her head, her smile broader. This was a Kelvic she was addressing, because only a Kelvic could be this mature at that age. And Raiha, quite frankly, liked Kelvics. They were almost always easier to get along with than normal people, though Asim might well have been an exception. He was a surly, frustrating bear, but she wouldn't change him for the world. "My name is Raiha. Do you mind if I ask yours?"

[Mao]

Mao had definitely taken note of all the animals that inhabited Sanctuary. Often times she had to stop herself from making a meal out of several of them, and being a feline she was naturally inclined to be hostile to canines, despite it being Raiha’s companion. Pet was not in her vocabulary. She abhorred such practices, yet she rarely noticed if her race was subjected to such. Raiha didn’t seem the type to be cruel or forthright to her animal friends. She seemed more like Kavala, one who saw creatures like a subset of humans, with feelings and thoughts of their own. So it came when the dog barked at her she stood still, nearly shooting it a glare in irritation, but she had no desire to outright harm him.

When Raiha turned around quickly, she backed away almost instinctively. The Akontak was strange but beautiful. Something exotic to behold out amongst the Sea of Grass and a city of blue men. Oddly enough, she thought of her first meeting with the Konti healer. She had found her mesmerizing, and this was oddly the same in that aspect. Mao began to circle her as she did everything she found curious, taking in her full form, the cascade of white hair and her gold eyes. It was apparent she exuded an air unmatched by anyone. She was different.

“Working at Sanctuary?” She repeated, then she kneeled right before Diallo, her arms wrapped around her knees, staring straight into his eyes as if she willed him to speak. No he was no Kelvic, and she could not speak canine. Ah, if only the woman had a cat for a pet. Mao glanced up at Raiha. “Ah, another healer, like Kavala, right?” She didn’t particularly know what a falconer was, she had never met one, but gazing at the area around her, the kelvic had an inkling that she was a hunter of some sort. Why else would she risk her life out in the plains?

“What were you doing out here? There are many, many creatures that could tear a grown man to pieces. A woman shouldn’t be out by herself, even with a dog.” She glanced at Diallo, fangs bared in a grin. “Besides, aren’t the blue gorillas protective of their breeders?“ Then when the Akontak introduced herself, Mao stood, ignoring the soil that caked the hem of her free-flowing dress. “I’m Mao. I never knew that there were blue women. They hide them so well…” She mused.

[Raiha]

Diallo stood there as Mao got in his face, though he sniffed at her some more now that she was right in front of him. Raiha watched the interactions, watched the way their colours swirled and shifted and changed. The changes were subtle, slight, far too fast for Raiha to be able to pick apart right then, to discern or decipher. Diallo’s were simpler than Mao’s – there was a hunt to be had, one predator told the other. The dog was looking forward to it. The Kelvic’s, though… the Kelvic’s were harder. She was an animal first and foremost, true, but she was an animal that was touched by human emotions that came from being bonded to someone. That made it an entirely different situation altogether.

She took in Mao as she studied Diallo, watching the two interact after turning off her Auristics for now, letting the world come back into its usual focus, where things were solid and tangible. She wasn’t too tired, not yet. She didn’t plan, either, on making it much worse. She might have to, depending on how Uzima did... The Kelvic was a source of interest to her. She didn’t hang around with Kavala’s Kelvics much, but she had Laeraix and Asim, too. Mao was bonded to that Akalak who was visiting… Sorian, wasn’t it? She remembered the name from hearing it… if only because she had once had a teacher whose name was similar… Soryn, he had called himself. But Mao… there was a wildness, a feralness to her that had Raiha wondering what she was. Was she some sort of predator? Asim didn’t act that way, and Laeraix didn’t, either. Sure, Kelvics were as varied as they came, but generally Raiha thought she saw hints of their bestial side in their human miens. This one wasn’t overly young, either, but who knew what her life had been like? Raiha wouldn’t judge.

Think of the damage whomever has her could do with her, Kanikra commented. Look at the way she moves, the way she circled you. She’s a hunter, and I’d lay on you a very good bet she’s a seasoned killer of anything and everything.

Possibly. She’s a Kelvic, Raiha admitted. They do that.

So ask her. Just be upfront about it, Kanikra suggested. I want to know.

You’ll just have to wait. We’ll ask Kavala later. She’ll know. Besides… you don’t like it when I answer questions about myself… and you don’t answer any at all. Raiha blinked, bringing her focus back to Mao, and then up overhead, listening for her hawk. Curious. Excited. That combination was never good. “Like Kavala,” Raiha agreed. I work primarily with the birds… but I help out wherever I can.” She started striding through the trees, and Diallo moved to follow her as Raiha headed in the direction her hawk had gone, where she was hearing her calling from. Time to catch up before the goshawk got too far away from her.

“I don’t plan on hitting the plains, either,” she told Mao as they walked. “There’s plenty to hunt nearby… and I just like to make sure that the moles and groundhogs and such stay out of the pastures and fields, and no food goes to waste in Sanctuary. Dyrid is a better hunter than I am, but I figured if I could catch a couple pheasants and hares it might help out a little bit.” She needn’t have worried, it seemed – within minutes of the fast pace, she found her goshawk. Mao and Diallo could smell it clearly – there was fresh hare blood on the forest floor. “Besides, I’m not a breeder… I don’t have a blue-skinned gorilla, heh. I’m sure there are those that would want it… but they haven’t gone that far yet. I’m an Akontak… they wouldn’t dare.” She shook her head. Diallo surged ahead, crashing into the bush up ahead, only to stop short at an angry cry from Uzima. The bird had caught her first catch of the day – a hare, and was perched on top of it, her beak bloody and wings outstretched. “I’m what you get, sometimes, if you cross a Konti and an Akalak.”

“Up,” she told Uzima, touching her leather-covered fingers to the hawk’s belly. She climbed up, and let out another cry. Hungry. Excited! A couple of rabbits could be stretched out. Of course, it was boning the darn things that made it a pain in the ass. She checked the hare to make sure it was dead – Uzima was as nasty as Kanikra like that, sometimes – and was surprised to find that the hare’s neck had been broken. Huh – the goshawk must have hit it at a funny angle. She put the hare into one of the pouches on her waist. “Hawks won’t hunt very well or much at all if they’re hungry,” she explained to Mao, aware that the Kelvic was probably wondering why on Mizahar the blue-skinned female had taken the hawk’s prey from her. “So she got a bit of it before I got here… she’ll have to find another. She doesn’t mind. She lives for hunting.” The Akontak launched the goshawk into the sky again, letting her take wing to start looking for another source of prey.

[Mao]

Mao uncharacteristically listened intently to what the akontak had to say. She figured since in all her travels she has never seen one, then it might do her some good to hear what the girl had to say, even if the concept of falconry went beyond her, and the word “Akontak” barely stoked anything in the kelvic. “Dyrid is not the only hunter on this land, just an incompetent one.” Mao smiled devilishly as they moved to follow the goshawk. It was an odd action, trailing after a kill as if she was a scavenger. Something prickled in the back of her neck, “You command these birds, and they follow you? Why?” She didn’t mean it in a derogatory manner, but Mao was curious, “Why do the birds allow it? Are they not predators like cats?” Her pale green gaze fell over the foliage scattered across the ground, hearing the crunch of her steps as they walked, “They’re not kelvics… they should be able to have the will to say no.” She went quiet, as if the statement she unwillingly repeated out loud struck something in her that made her fall into a reverie. The cry of the goshawk snapped her out of it, and she blinked toward the direction of the victorious raptor. “Are there many of you?” She asked, “I’ve never seen one of your kind in all my travels.” While she said this, Mao squatted low and watched Raiha with a predator’s gaze; unblinking, unnerving. “She trusts you,” the kelvic finally said, “That’s why she allows it. Because she knows you don’t steal it from her. She loves you…” It was a quiet statement, but whatever tenderness flashed in her tone vanished at the scent of a creature that Mao knew was notoriously vicious. Mao stood abruptly, her loose dress swaying across her legs as she turned to stare at the direction they had arrived from. The scent was drawing closer. “Glassbeak,” She growled, “A stray one, and it’s coming closer… It’s picked up our scent.” Her body tensed, waiting.

[Raiha]

Raiha smiled back at Mao as she spoke, following Uzima as Diallo galumphed ahead of them. Now that they were on the move again, the Akontak blinked, and brought back the real world once more - closing off Auristics for now. The last thing she needed was the sun-blindness. That would have been a whole new parcel of trouble. "I don't command them, no," she corrected, her manner mild. It was becoming clearer to Mao that the blue-skinned female was remarkably laid back. Maybe more than she should be out here. But she was a peaceable person. "I ask them. We work together. She is my eyes and ears in the sky. I raised her from a hatchling - so what we do, we do together. She may not need me - I think she could survive on her own, if something happened to me… she knows how to hunt. But I raised her... I'm responsible for her. At the end of the day, she wants to come back to my glove. How could I force her to come down? We're a team, she and I, like you and your bondmate. We look after one another."

Uzima didn't let out another sound as she swooped down over the grass, her wings banking, only to return upwards, flapping hard to get her altitude again. She had missed her mark, or something had startled her. Raiha shielded her eyes with a cupped hand, looking upwards at the hawk, trying to figure out why…. only to swivel and look at Mao. “A Glassbeak is coming? Diallo, here,” she called the dog back from where he had gone on ahead, looking for him as Uzima circled overhead. The dog parted the grass like a white whale rising from the sea as he charged back, ears flat. He could smell the predator, and he turned his back on Raiha and Mao when he got there, the fur along his back standing straight up along his spine.

Well, this will teach you. Suvai and hunting knife. Against a Glassbeak. Congratulations, Raiha, your ability to make careless and stupid decisions never ceases to amaze me, Kanikra sighed as her twin pulled a suvai from the sheath on her belt. Even Mao could tell it would be woefully inadequate against something like a Glassbeak, even if the blue-skinned female made it look like she might be halfway decent with it. Focus. Auristics. Find it. If we can see it and know where it's coming from... Not for the first time, Raiha was thankful for her birth - Akontak were rather better at managing Djed, or maybe they just had enormous amounts of it, but whatever it was, Auristics wasn't tiring her out just then. Her eyes narrowed slightly, then expanded as the auras of the world around her came to bear - Mao's, Diallo's, the grass, the ground, the worms in the ground... She glanced at Diallo for an idea of where the bird might be coming from, and was soon turning with the dog as she pointed ahead of them, her grip steady on her suvai.

Just hush and focus on killing the thing, or at least chasing it off, would you? Raiha asked her twin, unwilling to listen to the scolding at the moment in this exponentially more dangerous situation than they had planned. One would think that they were too close to Riverfall for Glassbeaks to logically come close, but in following her hawk, she’d allowed herself to wander a bit too far away. “It's coming that way - Uzima saw it – that’s why she missed her mark. I’m going to guess that we’re not going to be able to talk the Glassbeak out of chasing us with the hare?”

[Raiha]

OOCI got permission from Mao to NPC her to finish the thread off.

At the Kelvic’s wry chuckle at Raiha’s remark, the Akontak went from purple to a pale blue, because soon Mao was no longer a young woman, but a very large black panther, who disappeared into the grass as Diallo started growling, turning slowly, tracking the sound in the grasses. And now that it was closer, Raiha spotted the glassbeak’s Aura. It was a bit like that of larger predators, she realized - it was one pure bundle of malevolence. But now that she could see it, she wasn’t turning her back on it, either. Giving such a creature, no matter how old or healthy it was such an advantage would have proven fatal, and Diallo knew it. She, in turn, followed the dog’s lead, suvai out and at the ready. Mao’s aura, Raiha perceived it in flashes at the edges of her awareness as she studied the creature that was advancing on her in the dog. Overhead, Uzima called out in warning. It was coming closer.

Well, she had to admire Mao’s stratagem. Even Kanikra agreed with it. Namely, the blue-skinned female and the big white dog made an excellent bait and distraction. She studied the Glassbeak’s aura as it approached. Male, the bundle of colour told her. Old. Its left leg was a little differently coloured than the rest of its aura, which usually indicated to her that there was an injury or a sickness. And because she was pretty sure one did not get sicknesses in their legs - though there were always the bones - she was certain it was an old injury. It didn’t seem to be bothering it too much - it didn’t seem to be favouring its leg, but those sorts of things were hard to tell from the distance from the aura alone.

The hair on the dog’s back stood straight up as Raiha clutched the suvai, ready, waiting, legs bent slightly at the knees, shifting her center of gravity to prepare. The glassbeak stopped circling then, and faster than Raiha could breathe, the enormous bird came charging through the grass at them with only one thing on its mind. Hunger. Its leg was bothering it, too, and then it was there. Uzima dived, claws gouging for the creature’s eyes, and Diallo charged for it, his big bulk in front of Raiha and not moving, as the Akontak, suvai lining the outside of her arm, made a desperate slash at the creature’s beautiful beak as its momentum was thrown by the bulk of the dog crashing into its chest, and sending it off balance. It was already limping from the leg - dried blood told Raiha that something had injured it some time ago and hadn’t finished it off - and Diallo sent it crashing down, trying to grip its neck as that beak went for the dog.

A flash of black pinned the bird to the ground, gripping the Glassbeak by the back of its throat, tilting its head up. Mao had the bird by the throat, clutching and squeezing as the bird’s windpipe was crushed, and its lashings stilled. Raiha breathed heavily. Well. She... she would definitely be more careful when she ventured out into the sea of grass again. And Diallo was going to need some stitches, though it didn’t look too bad... Overhead, Uzima shrieked again, and Raiha was on her feet, looking for any more. They hunted in packs, she remembered being told. What it looked like they had, as she stared at the beast’s aura, was an young male who had gotten left behind his pack with his injury and left for dead... because Uzima was calmer, Diallo wasn’t on the edge quite so much, and she couldn’t see anymore threatening auras. Only once she was certain it was dead did she approach.

She activated Rak’keli’s power, and went over her big white dog with her hands, gold fringing her skin as she burned away the infection. The rest she’d stitch when she got back - that, she could not heal. If Rak’keli saw fit in the future to give her a greater gift, then that would be the way it would be, but until then, she would make due with what she had. Mao was unharmed, and Raiha exhaled. “Well. This will be meat to feed the place,” she told the panther. “Now, we just have to get it back to Sanctuary.” She was breathing heavily, not from actual exertion, but from a combination of Auristics and the adrenaline rush that was fading now that the thread to their person was gone.

--

Some huffing and pulling later, they had the dead Glassbeak in the courtyard, and Raiha decided it could be left there for the time being - for now, though, she wanted to stitch Diallo’s shoulder. Leaving Mao to luxuriate in the sun and stretch and enjoy the smug superiority that came from bagging a glassbeak, injured though it had been. Up in the mews, with Uzima on her perch and Diallo lying in the light of the open window, Raiha gathered the needle and thread, and let the dog get comfortable, resting his head on her leg. “Mmn. You’re my boy,” she told the dog with a smile and cleansed it out again, burning away the infection before taking the rag in the bowl of water and rinsing it out onto the cloth. “Good dog,” she told him in Kontinese as she dried her hands and prepared to stitch, poking the needle through as skin quivered under her hands and the big dog just rested there stoically. “You are such a good dog,” she told him again and again. “You’ll get the big leg bones for chewing, right? All yours,” she promised him, talking steadily as she put the skin back together. “There we go... almost. Almost, Diallo,” she promised him. With deft fingers, she carefully put a neat line of stitches in the dog’s white coat, shaking her head at him. “You’re going to scare everyone around here, aren’t you?” she told him fondly when she snipped the thread and rinsed her hands before sponging the rest of the blood out of his coat. “Good dog. Good dog.”

It was a lesson harshly learned - without Mao, she likely would have died out there, and no one would have been none the wiser. . From now on... she would certainly keep much closer to Sanctuary until she could defend herself better. But for now, it was time to go butcher that glassbeak - she had some ideas for the feathers, beak, and talons... and, of course, the legs had been promised to her dog. Sanctuary would eat well tonight... and she would show respect to Eywaat and Caiyha by making sure that every last morsel was used. That was only fair, when you hunted. You took what you needed - not whatever you wanted.

[Gossamer]

. Character: Raiha Experience: +1 Hunting, +1 Animal Husbandry, +1 Auristics, +1 Falconry, +1 Teaching, +2 Medicine Lore: Identifying the Characteristics that hint people are actually kelvics, Understanding where it is safe to hunt. Recognizing good hunting when one sees it, being able to argue with one’s inner sister without appearing to be arguing with ones inner sister, Recognizing weapons needed verses prey hunted, Understanding the severity of a wound. Bribing animals to get them to hold still for medical procedures, Sewing up a dog’s wounds. Character: Mao Experience: +2 Observation, +2 Interrogation, Lore: Finding out where keys are kept, Escaping Routine Restraints. Sensing Danger Approaching, Additional Note: Raiha, if you go into more detail on your dog/hawk handling, I can give you more XP for these types of threads. Also, again with the auristics. Lack of detail cost you XP. It is, again, not a passive magic. .