A Meeting of Beasts (Zareah & Nastarai)

[Aiken]

Timestamp: 22nd of Summer 510 A.V., Nighttime
Area: Several miles outside of Syliras.

Aiken walked slowly through the thick brush of the wilderness. The lush green had become a tangled world of trees, bushes and rocks. The moon had left a cool blue light over the land, giving the Kelvic wolf more than enough light to see clearly.

The cool, crisp air felt nice against his fur as he picked up speed, seeming to glide over the forest floor. As he dodged to and fro, avoiding trees and rocks alike, he put his nose in the air. There were animals all around, wolves, bears, foxes, mice. He had a desire for fresh meat, for the lusting after prey as it ran for its life. He wanted to kill, and have fun doing it. But at this very moment, he just wanted to run through this world of darkness and feel stronger than anything else.

[Zareah]

Quiet… Still… Hurry up! No, still, just a little longer… NOW!
A field mouse squealed in surprise as her paws clamped it to the ground. It twisted and fought in vain. She carefully moved so that she had one paw over its neck and could move without it biting her, and then crushed one of its back legs. It shrieked and the sound made her cringe back for a moment, but not long enough for the little mouse, now she was annoyed at it and she whacked it with her paws a few times to punish it while it tried to scuttle away on three legs. She picked it up in her mouth and tossed it into the air, she backed up and watched it squirm in the air and land with a thud and a few tiny crunches. It lay still for a moment and she was just about to sit down to actually eat it when she heard the crunch of leaves under something large. Moving towards her. Quickly. She abandoned her meal and dashed for the edge of the clearing she had set down in to eat.

[Aiken]

Aiken was full stride when he heard a high pitched squeal some distance ahead of him. There was blood in the air, but he could see nothing of a large animal. Perhaps.. no, he saw it. Something smaller, with a ringed tail. It wouldn't be a meal, but the hunt would surely be a fun one for something so small. His tongue fell out of his mouth as he panted for more air, still in a full gallop.

Every few seconds he would see a flash of tail, but he couldn't keep track of it. Instead, he slowed to put his nose to the ground, walking carefully to follow the small animals scent. It seemed.. catlike, but not. He'd never smelled something quite like this, and he was intrigued. His face practically in the dirt, Aiken could tell he was getting closer, and he listened for rustling or movement. The scuttling of mice feet was everywhere when he paid attention, and it was interfering with finding this cat.

He growled low, lower than even he could hear. It felt good in his chest as he tapered the noise off until there was none at all. He lifted his head again and looked around, smelling the air. "Where are you, food? You're still here somewhere," he thought to himself, furrowing his brow in concentration.

[Zareah]

They ran each other quite the chase, she looped around and played her tricks but the animal refused to get off her trail. Then, quite suddenly, she no longer heard its breath or footfalls. She dashed up the nearest tree and jumped over to a branch on another. She wasn’t fooled, it was there. Maybe she couldn’t hear it but the animals near it could and they had gone quiet, there were few bird calls and nearly no sound from the forest floor coming from that direction. She was curious now, she doubled back the way she had come, slowly this time, and without coming out of the trees, she didn't have to go far before she saw a large animal. A lone wolf was walking, nose to the ground, along her trail.
So that’s why I couldn’t loose it.
She snuck further out on her branch ‘till it began to bend and she had to hurry back a little.
Oh no, did it hear that?
She waited, frozen anxiously, for any reaction.

[Aiken]

Aiken twitched his head towards the sound of rustling leaves. Was it some type of squirrel? Whatever it was, it's scent was getting stronger. Did he smell fear in the air? He took a few more steps, past the tree it was hiding in. He could practically taste it now, and he could tell it was female. He looked into the branches, trying to see movement and listen for the rustling of leaves.

It mattered not, what sex his meal would be. Meat was meat, and exotic, rare meat was better than any. He smelled the tree a few times to make sure the trail was still fresh. She was young, probably inexperienced. It would be easy to finish this hunt; all he had to do was wait until she tried to run away again. She killed a rat, so she needed meat to live, and hunger would drive her out soon enough.

He sat back on his haunches, staring into the moon as he waited for his prey to descend. It had a certain feral calling to him, like he would perpetually be drawn to it's silvery-blue glow until fate decided it was time for him to die. His head fall back, and a low, sad howl escaped his maw. The wind picked up and blew his fur back, carrying the sound far through the forest. He could hear a few wolves pick up the howl near by, and there must have been an entire pack less than a mile away. It was an eerie noise that still made the fur on his face feel prickly and his tail be still, but it was a beautiful sound that made him feel at home in this wild.

[Zareah]

It had defiantly heard her. Now it sat at the base of the tree she was in. It howled, and was answered by howls. She shuddered, oft she had sat and listened to that sound thinking it was beautiful, now she couldn’t imagine anything more frightening, except perhaps the wolfs jaws, and teeth… she backed up inadvertently till she hit the bark of the tree and then nearly sprang out of it in fright, she would have if she hadn’t caught a branch on her way down and scrambled back up on to it. She looked down, the wolf was on its feet, eyes shining at her in the darkness.
She yipped at it and climbed further up the tree wondering if it would wait longer than the sweet yellow river-fish did, then wished she hadn’t thought of it. The thought of fish reminded her that she hadn’t finished her mouse and THAT thought went straight to her stomach. She looked around, were there any branches she dared jump to? The way she had come seemed awfully far off now. But just then she spotted another, closer, tree, nothing to lose now anyways, so she jumped to it. She picked slowly through a random path, whichever branches were closest, with the wolf following her path patiently on the ground. She was about to jump again when she realized she'd landed on a fruit tree. Apricots. Well at least its not bananas, or grapes. She found a sturdy enough branch and, now purposely ignoring the wolf, shifted into her human form and reached for a fruit.

[Aiken]

Aiken followed her through the branches, barking as he jumped on the tree to try for a better look. There was nowhere she could go except though the trees, and he would be waiting for her until that time. But as the lights of her Kelvic shift overcame the dim ambient lighting, he realized his hunt was well over.

Truth be told, he could have just as easily kept at this girl if he wanted to. She looked young, probably not even a full year yet. He circled the tree again, never lifting his eyes from her. He growled deep one last time, not wanting to be forgotten as the predator. He shifted his form, standing on two feet instead of four.

"You know, you're lucky you're a Kelvic. I tend to enjoy it when the stranger of prey seems to make its way into my hunt," he said lowly, his eyes accusing. She had really done no wrongdoing, but he was angry with another escaped meal.

[Zareah]

The wolf growled and she shuddered, then suddenly a flash of light nearly blinded her, that combined with the scare of a voice in the darkness caused her to nearly fall out of the tree, she clutched the branch she was on tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. Kelvic, it took a moment to register but when it did she peered over the edge of the branch questioningly, Kelvic he had called her, he looked angry.
“I don’t know,” She said softly. Freak, that’s what her parents had called her. Her stomach growled at her and she remembered the fruit, she grabbed one and ripped into it, then looked back down at the wolf, no… he wasn’t a wolf, he was like her. Kelvic. Is that what he is? Is that what I am? Cautiously she climbed to a lower branch and looked at him again, still his eyes were narrowed and intently focused on her. She froze, feeling like she was under a predators eye and every instinct told her to flee, but her mind knew she would only be killed if she did. And besides, she had never met another like herself, her curiosity was going to kill her if he did not. She swallowed a few more bites and forced herself to go down another branch. She was only one away from the branch closest to the ground now, just barely above his head, but could not manage to make herself go down any further. “You called me Kelvic, I’ve never heard that,” she told him.

[Aiken]

Aiken saw his opportunity, and he wanted very much to take her out of the tree and kill her as she was. But something told him not to. Deep within the human side of his beast-like body, he knew she was confused. To kill her would be pointless and feral, like the Zith.

He sighed and leaned back against the tree. "Kelvic. That's what you are. You shape shift between human and beast, yet you're not quite either one no matter how hard you try. And... whatever you are, I've never seen another like you. How can you not know this though?"

He growled again, but it was much slower. A warning, perhaps, that he was just as wary towards her as she was to him. The biggest danger in the wildlands was ignorance, and someone not knowing what they are seemed a little bit off to him. She had little, if any at all, of Aiken's trust right now. Less than that of a bear even.

[Zareah]

He growled again and her courage fell, along with about half her apricot as she dropped it to jump to a higher branch.
“I can not know because I have never met another,” She looked down at him, really looking at him for the first time. The first things she saw made her want to run, nearly twice her size, muscular, and incredibly male. All things she had learned to fear. His shoulders were tense, belying his relaxed pose against the tree. She wondered what for, she could not pose any threat. Her stomach growled, it had been a while since she’d eaten and the chase along with her transformation had really depleted her reserves. Her usual tactic was to sit and wait, not chase. She frowned at the fruit, not the tastiest thing she had ever eaten, but she was still afraid to come down, so she reached for another. Crunch. She screeched as the branch broke, just as her hand closed around the fruit.