First Day in a New Place (Open)

[Aksia Carataqua]

"But what about me?" cried Aksia to Sasin. You're not supposed to leave me here! You're not even supposed to ignore me, not to mention leave me!? OI! she cried again, she looked over to Sasin and Tomas, who both looked like they were very ready to start this competition.

Aksia was then trying to go all, Ms. you-should-do-the-right-thing-now, "You're supposed to be doing something productive! Not playing games, Sasin. Sasin didn't seem to have heard her, getting ready to leave, Tomas! Listen to me, don't do this, I don't have a good feeling about this!" she cried to deaf ears, "I repeat, I DON'T HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THIS! she cried in Char, she had that habit of saying things in Char went things went wrong, the sound that came out was reminiscent of the sounds you would get if you scratched a white board with your fingernails, and tried to slit a chickens throat with a butter knife. Not pleasant, the crowd yet again looked at her, she put her hands up "Sorry.." she said again.

[Nyahna Sasin]

The wolf seemed to hesitate, then made up his mind. Sasin grinned "Beaten by you? I'll believe that when I see it, pup." He teased, poking him in the shoulder. "So, it'll go like this. We'll go out into the forest. I'll hide, and you come find me after 5 chimes, OK?".

He rolled his eyes at askia's protests. "Don't worry so much. It's only a game, we won't hurt each other. And besides. It is productive. I'm trying to see if he'd make a good hunter. "

He stood, waiting for any protests.

[Tomas]

Tomas nods, now even more confident. Tracking somebody in they city was much more difficult than in the forest. There were to many diffrent smells in the city, and you didn't leave footprints. But in the woods, anything out of place was much easier to notice. The fact that Nyahna had a unique smell helped as well.

But there was the issue of Aksia. The Charoda seemed really worried about the two, and really did not want them to go. Tomas didn't really see a problem with what they were planning, but he hated to see people cry. "Don't worry, I've spent lots of time in the woods. We'll be fine. We wont have to worry about any wolves bothering us, if you're worried about that. And I can distract anything else that attacks while you guys get away. I'm pretty fast on all fours, so don't worry about me."

Tomas nods, more to himself than to Aksia. "Yeah, we should be fine." He turns back to Sasin. "Ok, sounds good to me. Ready when you are."

[Nyahna Sasin]

Sasin grinned. "Alright then. It's settled. I'll see you in five minutes." He drawled. Oh, this would be fun indeed. Turning, he walked out out the door calmly. The second the door closed behind him, he broke off into a sprint. He wanted as big a head start as he could possibly get. After half a minute of dodging in and out of the crowd, he reached the city gates. He slowed down to nod at the guards, then sped up again, heading into the forest.

Once he was out of sight, he stopped. Pulling off his clothes, he folded them carefully, then hid them under a bush. Closing his eyes for a second, he started to shift. He had always loved the feeling. It was a pity he had to spend so much time in his human form. His legs melded together, and elongated. Bones, muscle, joints, and organs all shifted and grew and divided to acommodate his length. Hair was sucked back into his body. Diamond shaped scales appeared on his tail, and slowly changed into their pattern of gold stripes on black. Skin on the side of his head grew, and turned yellow, forming a hood. He flattened it for now. His fangs grew, and, his teeth sharpened, divided, and pointed inwards. Finally, his eyes slitted, and turned yellow. And it was done. Sasin sighed softly. Sometimes, he wished that it would take longer to shift. But that would make it pretty much useless in battle. Turning away, he slithered off into the woods.

He continued on his way, eyes darting here and there, making sure there were no predators nearby. He hissed a greeting to a couple of snakes, doubled back several times to confuse the trail, then stopped. This was a part of the forest where the branches grew low down. Looking up, he could see there was a tree branch some eight feet above. He smirked. Slithering over to that tree, he began to climb, using arms and tail together to climb that darn tree. He cursed softly. He was no constricter. This did not come easily to him. Finally, as the 5th bell rang, he made it to the branch. Slithering out onto it, he was pleased to find it was nice and sturdy. Using the last two feet of his tail, he anchored himself firmly to the branch.

Satisfied that everything was good, he laid back, ignored the itchiness in his tail, and waited for Tomas

[Aksia Carataqua]

As Sasin sped out of the door, she sighed and sat down on the wooden chair of the bar. "I should be following them.." she thought, and she ran out of the bar too, her light bones let her run faster than most humans, and the lack of water resistance allowed her to run even faster, as she sped along the streets she noted the roofs of the city, "Maybe I can jump on top later.." she announced to herself, she ran past the city guards, ignoring their protests, and watched as the tip of a giant snakes tail disappeared into the thick undergrowth of the forest beyond.

[Tomas]

Tomas sat patiently counting the time until he reached five chimes. Today was turning out to be a pretty good day after all. He'd made some new friends, and was going to get to do something fun for a change. Ever since he left Zeltiva life had been fairly boring. Just wake up, follow the caravan, and go to sleep.

Five chimes go by and Tomas jumps to his feet, examining the chair Sasin sat in and breathing in his scent one more time to commit it to memory. "Ok, let’s do this." He walks to the door, throwing it open and breaths in again. The scent is faint, despite it having been only a short time, but such is the way in a city full of people moving around. Luckily, he had an idea of where the man was going, and quickly made his way to the gates. Giving the guard a cheerful wave he walks out the gate and sniffs around to catch the scent once more, finding it amongst the footprints of several others. To his relief, it immediately branches off from the rest and heads out toward the forest.

Following the foot trail, he notes that while his sense of smell is superior in wolf form, the better eyesight as a human makes it easier to follow tracks. He was still too close to the city to rely purely on scent, so being able to confirm it with seeing the tracks was a relief. Eventually he comes to a point where the footprints stop, walking around a bit and disappearing all together. "Hmm..." He breaths deeply through his nose, noting something different about the scent but can't quite put his finger on it. After searching around a bit he finds the smile of clothes and nods to himself. The man was a shape shifter like him, unless he just liked running through the woods naked. He doubted that though, since there were often thorns and other things that could make that rather unpleasant.

Removing his own clothes Tomas shifts as well, his sense of smell and hearing both increasing with the change. He preferred his wolf form to human, having spent the majority of his life this way. He loved the way the wind felt in his fur; the way it kept him warm against the cool air. He loved running on all fours and howling to the moon. He felt much freer as a wolf. Tomas sniffs around the area, checking the scent on the clothes again and noticing the distinct change in form it takes, though still similar. Perhaps if he hadn't suspected the man would change forms this might have thrown him off, but since he was expecting this it did little to slow him.

The trail was harder to follow now, though the scent was more distinct. Whatever form Sasin had taken, it left little signs of its passing, and at one point he almost lost the trail, but picked it up again after doubling back a ways. The man was smart, much smarter than the game he was experienced in hunting. After a while the trail came to an end again, and after doubling back he still could not pick it up. Following the trail to its end once more he sniffs around, coming to the base of a tree. Sasin had gone up.

He stops, ears perked up to listen for any sounds, and looks up at the tree. He shifts back to human form for better vision and squints against the fading light in an attempt to see if the man was still around, though since he had no idea what he was looking for he had little to go on. Hopefully Sasin was nearby and had not jumped to another tree, but there was a good chance he could have moved on. Unless something happens, Tomas will begin circling out; slowly checking the base of each tree and the area right around it for any sign of the man’s passing.

[Nyahna Sasin]

Sasin smiled as the 5th bell chimed. And now it began. He wondered how long it would take for him to find him. He didn't have to wait for long.

Perfectly still, lying on top of the branch, he watched as Tomas appeared from between the surrounding trees. He was slightly impressed that the kelvic had managed to catch up to him so quickly. He waited until the Kelvic turned away, then slowly lowered himself down behind the wolf. His hands reached for Tomas's neck silently.

He felt his tail slipping, and frowned. Just a few more miliseconds! He snarled inwardly.

He was hanging upside down behind a wolf kelvic, with either his tail or a tree branch about to give way. This was... awkward.

[Aksia Carataqua]

Aksia watched as the huge wolf, which was Tomas galloped into the thick forest, she hoped they would be okay, there were all sorts of weird things in the forest. "What the hell am I thinking?" she thought to herself "Sasin is a giant snake, Tomas is a giant wolf, I'm the only thing here that isn't giant." she frowned making a crease into her face, she brushed her silvery-blue hair aside, sat down and sighed, wondering what was going on inside of that forest.

She stood up, "To hell with this, I'm going in!" she thought to herself defiantly, she ran through the undergrowth, following her gut senses, she heard some scuffling up ahead, and started climbing a few trees nearby, having flexibility and speed were very useful when it came to climbing trees, she peered down from a tall branch and saw Sasin behind Tomas, she wasn't going to let this thing end so quickly. "AOOOOOOHHHHHH" she yelled in a wolf-like fashion, she was sure that Tomas would hear and she was sure that Sasin would know it was her, as her message echoed through the woods a flurry of small birds came out, yup, they would hear it alright. "I wonder if Sasin is tired yet, he's been hanging on that tree for a while.. she thought to herself, "Oh well..

[Tomas]

Tomas kneels next to a tree, examining a twig that was bent in half. Could it have been from Sasin, or was it just a bent twig. He couldn't tell for sure, but it was the only sign he'd seen so far. He stands and peers off into the woods as Sasin begins to lower into position behind him. Tomas does not hear him yet, and Sasin might have had him had it not been for the loud "AOOOOOOOHHHH" in the distance.

Spinning in the direction of the noise Tomas finds himself face to face with large snake reaching toward him. "Aah!" He jumps back and shifts in the process, snarling at the thing hanging from the tree. It had the scent of the one he was tracking, so surely the snake was Sasin. Taking advantage of the snakes precarious posistion Tomas pounces and tries to knock him to the ground.

[Nyahna Sasin]

(Um, I'm not in my snake form. I'm in my Dhani form. Half snake, half human. Think Naga.)

Sasin almost had him, when a loud "AOOOOOOOHHHH" sounded in the forest. It was a poor mimicry of a wolf cry, but it had the desired effect. Tomas turned around, and seemed surprised, jumping back and shifting. Sasin, on the other hand, had a less graceful reaction. His tail slipped, and he crashed to the ground. He immediately rolled over, getting up. By the time tomas pounced, Sasin was ready. He had a distinct disadvantage here, as the wolf had claws and fangs. Still, he did the stupidest thing, in the hopes that it would surprised tomas. He sprang right at the wolf, fangs bared, hood flared, in the hope that it would surprise him.