[Bronze Wood] Predator or Prey? (Nya)

[Atropus]

A shapeshifter. Atropus had heard stories of such things but had never encountered one; at least that he knew of. When he used to live in the Xy colony, Atropus had heard one of the slaves tell stories of a creature it saw once. The slave described a human that could become a wolf and back to a human again. Such a thing had always been thought to be just a story yet it could explain the woman Atropus was now facing. Now he had a name to go with the type of creature that she was, a kelvic and she had a "wilder" form that she could take? For Atropus, the curiosity only grew.

She must be ignorant or cunning to deny the affect of her appearance upon others. He thought to himself as he tried to wrap his brain around the woman.

Atropus decided to humor Nya's potential ignorance on the matter and said, "Ah, but beauty plays its own role in the hunt. Just as I am able to strike fear and horror in the hearts of my prey, you can incapacitate them with beauty. Don't you notice the looks men give you? The look that is almost predatory in nature? Your beauty causes them to want you and thus they ignore the danger of such a desire; they become blinded." He watched her eat but couldn't help but wonder what she tasted like. She was attractive, that much he could not help but admit yet for the time being he refused to indulge himself in carnal pleasure or a feast. This creature was too fascinating to use and toss aside so easily.

Then she questioned him further. She was actually asking him about his hunting. For a Zith, the hunt was everything. Atropus smiled widely; he was more than happy to talk about the details of the hunt. "I hunt many things. I prefer to avoid the other predators around here though; there's too much danger in that. The occasional deer ain't all that bad although the meat's a bit bland. No, humans are the best. You see, all you have to do is find a few of them dumb enough to travel the road at night. Make a few noises, toss in a growl or two and they get spooked. Keep doing it for awhile and you can smell the fear dripping off 'em." Atropus knelt down a bit yet kept himself ready in case she tried anything. He wasn't about to get too comfortable around this woman yet.

"Sometimes they huddle together for protection, other times they decide to run; that's my favorite. I sweep down, snatch 'em up and take off into the air. At that point their wetting themselves. Go high enough and you can drop them only to snatch them again before they hit the ground. I always make sure they get a good look at me the whole time; it really heightens the moment." He licked his lips at the thought and told himself that later he would surely have to find someone to eat one way or another.

"I don't always use them for food, no. Sometimes I'm just too full to eat anymore. When I am not in the mood to eat, I sometimes do what I am doing now. Some people, not many mind you, but some are just too interesting to eat. Others of my kind take slaves and use 'em for a variety of things; some are used for labor, others are used as teachers, some of us even take 'em as mates. Me, lately I just eat them or simply follow 'em and watch 'em; see what they do, what they talk 'bout. Maybe I eat 'em later, maybe I don't." Atropus cocked his head to the side and a curious look crossed his bestial face.

"If you can change into something else, what is it? Why are you, you and not it right now?"

[Nya Winters]

Nya laughed outright at the Zith. She studied him with her keen moss green eyes and mirth filled her features. "Again you speak of beauty but it means nothing to me. Life is lived by your mind, by the tooth and claw, stupid bat." She spit the words out, licking a bit of tissue from her fingers where she'd latched onto the corpse and carried it higher into the tree.

So, lets see if she could get this straight. He played with his food, despised humanity, and generally thought they were a lot more vibrant in terms of meat than deer? He liked humans best because he could scare them to death and then eat the meat while it had the taint of terror on it? Nya's stomach turned and she growled softly in the back of her throat. Wasteful. No wonder humans disliked Zith so much. And they took humans as slaves for labor, food, and mates? Nya was no longer hungry, that much was for certain.

Besides, the creature said he was going to do two things with his people. If he wasn't in the mood to eat, which obviously he wasn't right now, he'd simply follow the interesting ones and eat them later after watching them. Creepy. She was having none of it.

"I choose not to be. Some kelvics are sensitive about their forms and self conscious. Many of us like to wear our human skins to blend in." She added. Then she moved her weight subtly, then leapt out and upward, scrambling through the branches. Her only warning was a shifting of weight before the human was a emblazoned in a light show that transformed her light body into that of a Talderian Forest Cat. She attacked with a ferocity that left no doubt hunting was as fun to her as it was to the zith. She wasn't worried about him flying away, not yet at least, instead, she just wanted to get her claws into him so she could drag him down with her. There was no way the tree would hold her weight once she was fully shifted, but if she could get a good hold on the zith - either it would flap its wings instinctively to try and lift itself aloft (though her weight would prevent that if he she could get him quickly enough) but she planned on letting him cushion her fall or at least break it a little if she went crashing completely down to the ground.

If she got a hold on him, she planned on chewing on him good... really good... to make sure he wouldn't soon forget and question stray humans in her territory ever agai. North, South, East.... any direction was favorable other than west - west into the heart of Syliras. The people were hers to protect because among them somewhere was a potential bondmate - one she wasn't going to miss having.

[Atropus]

The woman's taunts and harsh tone were beginning to wear on Atropus. She was evading and/or dismissing his questions and in turn failing to satiate his curiosity. More and more he was considering using her for pleasure before devouring her. Just as he was pondering exactly how to go about just that, his keen hearing caught the slight creaking of a tree limb as Nya adjusted her weight for what would become a leap less than a second later. The warning though was not enough for Atropus to avoid what happened next. In mid-leap, the not-so-human in front of him became a rather large forest cat all in the midst of all too much light. Atropus was momentarily blinded by the light show as Nya's feline form slammed into him.

As a Zith, Atropus was not one of great mass or weight. He, like the rest of his kind, was designed to be winged, nocturnal hunters who rely on sound to hunt large prey as a pack; not facing off against other, larger predators in single combat. Nya's claws tore into Atropus' chest leaving two sets of bleeding wounds while her powerful jaws clamped down on his shoulder; teeth sinking in deep. Shocked and wracked with burning pain coursing throughout his upper body, Atropus reacted as any animal would when surprised, hurt and looking to get away; he began flapping his wings madly while scratching with both clawed hands at Nya's face. He brought up his clawed feet and tried to dig his talons into her underbelly in an attempt to push and claw her away from him. All this as the two fell from the upper branches of the trees; crashing through smaller limbs as they plummeted to the forest floor. There was no room for Atropus wings to catch wind and even if he could, Nya's weight was too great and her grip too solid.

[Nya Winters]

Nya might have been bigger and heavier, but deep inside she was a coward when it came to protecting her vital organs. The Zith was every bit as much as a predator as she was, so when he started failing, raking his claws up her belly and tearing at the flesh there even through the thick fur, she squalled and let him go. Food wasn't supposed to fight back. The Forest Cat had a healthy respect of swords, was downright terrified of bows, and avoided anything with antlers if possible. But fighting a Zith was a whole new challenge to her, and she hadn't expected him to have quite such a sharp defense. Besides, she needed to disentangle him fast because at the rate they were falling and twisting, she'd land heavily - either on her head or back, probably breaking either one quickly.

So the moment claws parted flesh, she thrust the thing out and away from her so she could twist in the air and try to avoid crashing into any trees, tree branches, or boulders. She wasn't quite skilled enough to land exactly on her feet as she came to a plummeting halt on the hard surface. But she did bounce on all fours, then tucked into a roll that sent her sprawling into the brush spraying blood from her belly wounds. When a tree prematurely ended her tumble, she yowled again, rose, and then gave a forest cat roar. Her stomach burned. The crimson wasn't visible against her brindled fur, but that she was shedding blood at all infuriated her.

Back on her feet, after a vigorous shake that sent more blood droplets flying, Nya was off and running in the direction she saw the Zith fall. If she could get him while he was on the ground, there wouldn't be any claws in her belly.

There'd simply be Zith in her stomach.

[Atropus]

Atropus barely acknowledged the success of his desperate attempts at separating himself from the monstrous feline through the terrible pain caused by tooth and claw. As he fell, a few of the stronger tree limbs punched holes in the vein-filled membrane of his wings and left a vast series of scratches and gashes all over his body. His own fur, fine as it was, did little to cushion him from the damage as he crashed through the limbs to the ground below. A mixed blessing, the limbs did serve to slow the descent enough that Atropus avoided the breaking of any major bones as he hit the ground soundly; his opponent landing and rolling a short distance away.

Following the fall, Atropus pulled himself to his feet. Covered mainly in his own blood and dirt, he stole the briefest of moments to check for serious wounds. He had deep puncture wounds in his shoulder from Nya's teeth along with equally deep scratches across his chest from her claws. Almost his entire body was covered in bloody scratches from the tree limbs and his wing membranes had suffered a few painful yet mild punctures and tears. Along with the wounds and the accompanying pain, his entire body ached from the impact with the ground.

Before he had a chance to wonder if his enemy had survived the fall, he heard Nya's angry roar. With a quick look around, Atropus could see that there was no immediate opening in the trees in which to take to the air. While the hole through the tree limbs that the two combatants had created with their fall was noticeable, it was still too cluttered with broken tree limbs and Atropus was in no condition for quick flight.

He heard rustling in the brush a short distance away and then saw Nya charging at him. Thinking as quickly as his pain-filled mind would allow, Atropus kicked his taloned foot at the ground an in Nya's direction hoping to send a cloud of dirt, leaves and broken limbs in her path to blind her while he grabbed the nearest fallen tree limb small enough to lift. If he got the opportunity, he would bring the tree limb against her head and if nothing else, perhaps blinding her along with giving her a solid knock on the head would allow him time enough to climb the nearby tree and take to the air. For Atropus, survival was the only thing on his mind.

[Nya Winters]

Her stomach ached where the Zith had torn into it. She was mad now, squalling, and wanting to fight. The only problem was the zith blood in her mouth tasted horrible. It didn't even taste edible. And it took her falling to the ground to realize just how badly she disliked it. She didn't like the smell, the taste, or even the texture. It almost reeked of a wrongness to her - acrid unpalatable, disgusting. There were things she'd eaten before that she hadn't liked. Skunk was one of them, but somehow this Zith seemed worse. And if she killed it, she'd eat it, for Nya wasn't the type of wasteful predator that would kill and let lie, even in the presence of disapproving friends.

The zith, while unassumingly stupid in Nya's opinion, did something smart finally. It kicked up dirt which indeed did fill up Nya's eyes. The rest of the debris didn't bother her overly much, but the moment she was momentarily blinded by the debris in her luminous orbs she squalled, threw herself sideways, and narrowly avoided a limb to the side of her head. She took it on the shoulder instead, opening up a fresh wound which made her squall, one that hurt just as bad, and danced sideways retreating, wanting to get the dirt out of her eyes before anything else. She blinked furiously, tears streaming out of her gaze, and swiped the back of one paw across her face, clearing enough of the sediment out of her vision to see the Zith once more.

She locked gazes with him for a moment, just a moment, and with all her willpower inserted a thought into his mind, a strong deadly thought. "Run. Kelvics are very dangerous. Run and never look back." She forced all her will into the broken gaze, not sure if it would work with all the dirt turned to mud still in her eyes.

[Atropus]

Atropus cursed aloud in the zith language his displeasure at not connecting the branch with Nya's skull; his cursing sounding to Nya like a series of high-pitch shrieks that in any other situation may have caused her something of a headache to hear too much of. Though hitting her in the shoulder, Atropus was not satisfied that Nya would not be able to pounce on him as soon as he turned to run so as she struggled to clear her obstructed vision, he raised the branch for a second and hopefully final strike. It was then, for but a instant, that his gaze met hers. For what seemed like several minutes yet in reality was no more than a second or less, he paused as a strange thought entered his mind. It was strange only in its intensity. He wanted nothing more to break the she-beast's skull before retreating to lick his wounds yet now he felt an all-consuming desire to simply leave as quickly as possible and never look back.

Not fully realizing why, Atropus dropped the branch, turned and leaped at a nearby tree where he then clawed his way up it. He tried to ignore the terrible pain that coursed through his body as he scrambled up the tree with all the effort he could muster. Flight would be nearly unbearable thanks to the holes and tears in his wings but he couldn't shake the thought that the beast he had just faced was very dangerous and that if he didn't run and not look back, he would certainly die.

When Atropus was able to see open sky, he clenched his teeth and jumped from the tree limb he was standing on while flapping his wounded wings. Each movement of his wings brought burning pain to his head and eventually, the pain won out over the thought of running. Exhausted and wounded, he flew until he could not fly any longer and landed at the mouth of a small cave in the foothills of the nearby mountains. With his acute hearing, he listened for any signs of inhabitants. With the cave silent and apparently empty, he staggered inside and collapsed in the darkness.

[Nya Winters]

It must have worked because he fled. Not only did he flee, but he did so hastily. Normally a chase like that would have been fun. But today, she wasn't feeling much like it.

So, Nya didn't follow. For one thing, she wasn't seeing all that well, her stomach was bleeding, her shoulder was opened up slightly, and the forest cat felt like one of the toys must have felt like that she mauled as a kitten. Zith tasted horrible. Nya sat down immediately on her haunches when she saw it launch itself into the air, and began licking at her shoulder glad for the taste of her own blood. It washed the scent of the flying creature out of her mouth but not off her fur.

Water would do that.

The forest cat rose, padded back in the direction of her kill stashed in the big Elderwood Tree because it was on the bank of a wide slow flowing stream. Once back, which was slow going, she waded into the water and let it sluice her wounds and wash the remainder of the grit from her eyes.

Zith, Nya decided, were not what she wanted to eat. Ever. They weren't even what she wanted to be around. And Nya decided, if she ever met one again, there would be no hesitation in killing one. Atrophus had made up her mind in that respect. Zith were a menace - a blight upon the land. Slavers and feasters... good for nothing, not even for food.

[Dusk]

XP Award! Atropus XP Award Wilderness Survival: 1 XP Detection: 1 XP Interrogation: 1 XP Storytelling: 1 XP Brawling: 2 XP Climbing: 1 XP Lore Award Knowledge of Kelvics Geography: Bronze Wood Fighting big cats Nya XP Award Climbing: 1 XP Intimidation: 2 XP Reimancy (AIR): 1 XP Philosophy: 1 XP Unarmed Combat: 1 XP Hypnotism: 1 XP Lore Award Knowledge of Zith Fighting Zith Additional Note Excellent fight scene! Both of your characters learned something new about not messing with the other. Atropus, I loved how unapologetic your character was in his cruelty, and Nya, the feral and animalistic nature of a young Kelvic was wonderfully portayed!