Dark Encounter (Lunafang)

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

90th Day of Spring, 512 AV After 10:00 PM (Shortly after the events in this thread.) Minerva was limping through the city, her foot still somewhat aching. She'd only just been declared 'recovered' from the break (thanks in no small part to her Ethaefal boyfriend's magic touch), and she was eager to be on her feet again. She was also quite energized, after the night of poetry and uplifting stories that had just been held at the Scholar's Forum. She was so pumped up that she couldn't sleep. What she really wanted to do was go find Satevis and jump on him. But with the end of exams, he was stuck in the Astronomy Tower, and she wouldn't have the chance to see him just yet. But she couldn't even think about bed right now. She needed something to do. She decided to go scrounging. She was deeply in need of some stone for molds. She had a lot of projects starting up soon, and she needed to make gears. A lot of gears. And it was cheaper and easier for her to buy the iron or copper herself, and mold her own gears. But first she needed to make the molds. So she had wandered just past the outskirts of the city into the foothills of the nearby mountains. She didn't go far... Tock was neither suicidal, nor stupid. A trip any long distance away would be potentially fatal. But if she kept the lights of the city in view, she should be fine. She limped up the side of the hill, trailed by her babies, Naily and Choppy. She had, unfortunately, been forced to leave Cutty behind. He... wasn't acting right lately. It was really bugging her, but she wasn't sure what to do about it. So she'd left him home, where he hopefully wouldn't get into any trouble. Her other babies followed her eagerly, like obedient children sticking by Mommy's side. She'd rigged a simple torch from a stick with some scraps of cloth at the end, so she could light her way. She limped up the hillside, searching for stones. When she spotted a decent one, she bent down to scoop it up, collecting them in her backpack. Mostly she was collecting small, fist-sized rocks. Each one would be about the right size for making a mold for a gear. She searched for the flattest ones she could find, since she needed to square them off to ensure two stones could fit perfectly together for a mold. After a bit of searching around she had a decent number of flat, moderately smooth stones in her pack. She turned and looked back towards the city, peering through the trees at the distant lights from lamps and candles in various windows. It looked further away than she'd expected. Maybe it was time to head back. "C'mon, boys," she told her babies, turning back towards the city. She hurried along as fast as her aching foot could handle, until she saw Naily roll off to the side. "Oy, get back 'ere, you!" she called after him. "What is it? Huh? What's over 'ere?" He hurried back to her side at the sound of her voice, but she was curious now. She walked over and looked down at a dead deer, with flies starting to gather round it. She frowned. She looked around through the wooded hillside, hoping that whatever had killed the deer wasn't still out here. Picking up her pace, she started heading back towards the city.

[Lunafang]

Luna was full of energy. She had been sleeping for, about 14 hours. Longer than she had ever slept before. And now, she flew high in the air, scouring her forest for food. Little after, she swooped down into a small clearing. It did not take long to land, find a suitable target, and kill it. With a deep gash in it's side, the deer that she was aiming for was dead. Blood flowed heavily from it, and a pained look in it's eyes told her that it's death was slow, and painful. Good. Luna was about to dig into it's meaty flesh, when she remembered she had forgotten to salvage a piece. Luna always stored some, for the winter season, and when prey was scarce. So, she ripped off it's smallest leg- the front left one. She took to the skies again, and landed back in her camp. There, she found the small, but growing, pile of meat from various animals, and dropped the leg on top of it. She flew back to her deer, and spotted a human. A slow smile creeped across her face. Were all humans this stupid? She landed right below her, not daring to go near it. To capture it, she would have to sneak up on it properly. So, she used the cover of the trees, and some sneaking, to approach it carefully. Soon, the human was just within ear shot. She could hear it's subtle breathing. She slowly and carefully hid behind a tree, and folded her wings around her neatly so that they would not be seen. All of a sudden, she turned her head around the tree to get a good look, and she was very impressed. The woman had short red hair, with a streak of green. She stood a few inches over Luna, but it was not a big deal. In fact, most of the people Luna had ever seen stood over her. But she still overpowered them. In the blink of an eye, Luna leaped out of her hiding place and onto the human, attempting to table her. She let out lots of hisses to sound intimidating.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock wasn't really what you'd call a brave woman. She was no coward, and no stranger to pain and suffering. But she wasn't a fighter. She would take a swing at someone in anger, and had been in a bar fight or two, but she wasn't a trained or competent warrior. She also wasn't the sort to foolishly seek out danger when it could be avoided. She was a builder. That meant careful planning, blueprints, and hard work. Not risk and foolhardiness. So when the creature leapt out at her seemingly from nowhere, she screamed and fell back. She fell flat on her back, disoriented by the dark, shadowy figure that was suddenly attacking her without cause. She shoved and kicked at it, trying to push it off her. She swung her fists frantically, trying to beat the thing off. She wasn't a skilled fighter, but she wasn't weak, considering her daily life consisted of regularly swinging hammers and other tools. But when she realized she stood little chance of getting this thing off her with just her bare hands, her gut instinct was to rely on her magic. She wasn't a Reimancer, and thus couldn't summon up magic in an instant. She wasn't a Flux user, or a Morpher. She didn't have any powers that she could call upon in a flash. But she did have her babies. "Choppy!" she cried out, "Chop!" Her Animated axe rushed over, bobbing back and forth on its iron legs. It looked almost like a long-legged bird, with metal legs and claw-like feet. Yet instead of wings or a head, the axe handle rose from the 'waist'. As soon as it got in range, the axe swung back on the metal axle, springs flexing with force. Then it released, and the axe swung at the dangerous creature, powered by the combination of the Animation's motion and the extra force supplied by the springs, which gave it quite a hefty swing. OOCI've never done PvP combat on this site, but I'm certainly not expecting to do serious damage to Luna. You should be able to dodge/block the axe blow unless you decide you want to get hit by it.