Closed [Bronze Woods] The Prey (Thyme)

[Morgan]

Day 15 of Fall, 515 AV, after midnight

A small fluffy bear-like thing with brown-red fur and striped tail, Morgan, was trotting through the darkened forest, avoiding the small pools of water on the forest floor, the result of the recent rain.

'Left, under the bush, up over a puddle, right....Oops!'

Accidentally, the Kelvic stepped into a puddle with her right front paw. Morgan stopped and looked down at her reflection in the puddle. Truth to be told, she didn’t see much, because it was night and although her sight at night was quite good, it wasn’t that good. Suddenly finding the situation very funny, she began romping around the puddle, jumping up and down near the edge of the water, rolling around on the ground and slapping her front paws on the surface of the dirty puddle, water splashing everywhere around her.

Soon, Morgan’s face and neck were drenched and the dirty water was dripping from her fur. She stopped fooling around and shook her head, trying to get the water off, falling on her back in the process.

SNAP!

Morgan started, squeaked, jumped back up on her feet and ran to the nearby tree and began climbing as fast as she could. She stopped only when she thought she was high enough and looked down. 'What was that sound? It was like a twig breaking,' she thought with her heart beating fast.

The Kelvic waited for several minutes watching the forest below her and when nothing moved or happened, she slowly climbed down again. 'Maybe a branch or a twig broke off a tree,' she thought, calm again and began running again, slowly at first, still spooked by the strange sound, but soon she was running at full speed, dodging the trees, jumping over an occasional tree branch lying on the ground, as if nothing had happened.


OOCTell me if it's readable. I've been experimenting with my template

[Thyme]

Although far from her current dwelling, an apartment in travelers row. It would be that every so often Thyme would venture. Far out into the bronze woods in. Search of prey and other things, Thyme had been sitting on her snag pole for quite some time now. Awaiting anything foolish enough to romp through the woods without a care. Or without thought of those that might prey apon them.

"Snap"

Thyme turned her head in the direction of the noise, and the skittering of a small animal, no. The skittering of a "meal" Thyme leapt from the branch and spread her wings gliding down to where. She had heard the noises, banking right brought thyme within sight. Of her soon to be meal gliding ever so silently there was no possible way for her prey to have heard, or noticed her. The only way it would be possible for the furry little bear like animal would notice the great horned owl. Was if it were to look behind itself, and that was "very" unlikely. It was running at full speed now, but sill the distance between Thyme and her prey shortened. The closer she got to it the more curious she had gotten, what this small creature it was fuzzy small, and red? Although Thyme wasn't really hungry the thought of catching it was good enough for her. Finding out what it would taste like would be a plus too, who knows maybe there were more!

The owl was within grabbing distance now, if the little fuzzy bear didn't turn around soon Thyme would snatch it up and fly off with it. Likely back to her snag pole, where she could then decapitate it with her sharp powerful beak.

If it did turn around or decide to stop dead in its tracks thyme would likely overshoot it and be forced into a hard landing.

[Morgan]

Unaware of all the possible dangers, the Kelvic continued her running, placing one paw in front of the other, so that her steps were heard only as a muffled rhythm on the ground. Tap, tap, tap, tap….tap, tap, tap, tap…. Only occasionally there was a slight rustle of fallen leaves or a splash of water, when one of Morgan’s paws brushed something.

She loved running free like this, it was addictive. She couldn’t get enough of it and felt untouchable. What was there to fear? Everyone kept warning her to be careful in the woods, but there was really no danger here. She felt safe here in the forest, it was hers. It belonged to her.

‘Up on the fallen branch...balance over it...whoa!...hop down...turn right...hop over the puddle…’

Perhaps slightly late, she realized that something was off. Maybe it was the air that changed or she noticed some slight movement behind her or something like that. Whatever it was, it made her turn her head around and look behind her and what she saw made her gasp in horror – a huge bird, no, an owl, was hurtling through the air directly at her and it was almost upon her.

‘Oh no, no, no!’ she thought desperately, eyes wide with fear and tried to run even faster. ‘You couldn’t choose a better time to go hunting, silly owl!’ she thought and looked behind her again. There was no chance to escape the animal. It was flying too fast. She was finished and she deserved it for her recklessness. She cursed. ‘I hope you’ll choke!’

In a desperate attempt to get away, she made a sharp turn to the right, but even so she wasn’t fast enough and she soon felt the owl’s claws around her, squeezing her tightly, pinning her front paws close to her body. Of course she wouldn’t give up so easily, so she began thrashing around wildly in the owl’s grip, kicking with her hind legs and trying to bite it.

[Thyme]

After Thyme snatched up the fuzzy little bear. She took caution in not piercing the animals hide, It had occurred to her after she had caught it that she could sell the hide for some mizas. The more the animal thrashed about the harder it was for her to stay in the air the small animal snapped at her, and started to thrash about and kick its hind legs out. In a desperate attempt to escape her grasp, if it continued to do so Thyme would dig her talons into the sides of the creature, if it ceased to do so and went limp Thyme would simply tighten her grip on the creature. Taking care to not break the skin with her wickedly sharp talons, even when the animal wasn't thrashing about. Thyme had great difficulty not piercing the animals hide, there were several time where Thyme almost lost grip, and just barely kept hold of the animal. Either way Thyme decided not to fly all the way back to her snag pole, she ended up landing on the forest floor and put all of her own weight down and onto the fuzzy little bear. That way she could insure that she kept the animal under her control. Until she had decided what she wanted to do with it. But to further insure the animals obedience, Thyme placed the back of her beak on the animals neck and pressed down lightly

[Morgan]

The Kelvic didn’t cease to thrash around even though the owl had her firmly in its grasp. When the owl grabbed Morgan, she thought she was finished at the spot, but the bird grasped her and began flying somewhere, probably towards its nest. To eat her. If Morgan was in her human form, she would be desperately close to tears, although she rarely cried. She was not ready to die yet!

Morgan jerked violently around, because she had the impression that the owl had trouble holding her, considering she was resisting so much. If the owl dropped her, it surely would be very painful, given how high they were flying, but anything was better than having her head bitten off. The talons dug painfully into Morgan’s sides, as if in warning for her to stop struggling. The owl squeezed her so much it was hard to breathe and she felt one of the talons piercing the skin on her left side. Not too deeply, but Morgan was sure that it was enough to draw blood. That made her angry more then ever. It hurt!

However, she stopped struggling and waited. The owl’s grip relaxed a little after a while and started descending to the forest ground quite soon after taking hold of her. ‘What’s going on?’ Morgan thought fearfully. Did the owl decide that Morgan was too much trouble for it to take her to the nest? Was it going to eat her now?

Maybe that was her chance. Maybe, if the owl landed, Morgan could escape somehow! The thought gave Morgan new hope and energy.

When the owl landed, Morgan waited for her moment. She tensed when she felt its hard beak on her neck. The owl was still gripping her, but she didn’t move a muscle. Maybe if the animal thought that she had given up, it would let its guard down and its grip would slacken a bit. If it happened, she would take that chance and try to escape. She didn't want to think about the other possibility.

[Thyme]

Thyme hesitated when her prey went limp, something was wrong. Very wrong, Animals don't just give up, and those that do don't give up this easily. Thyme pushed off the animal, using her powerful wings in addition to her legs she pressed, she took to the sky. In an attempt to distance herself from the fuzzy little bear like creature, and whatever ulterior motives it had. Thyme had learnt that it’s best to trust a gut feeling over instinct. While she could have easily killed her prey. There was something off about the whole situation, Maybe it was just an easy meal. But Thyme wouldn't be finding out anytime soon as she was already. Perching on a nearby branch, she would wait some time before giving chase once more. That is, if the small bear would flee that is.

Thyme would be quite unsure of what she would do if it didn't, while it lay there Thyme started at it. Awaiting movement or something other than that.

She shivered at the thought of it being something other than just an animal. A shifter, or even worse a Kelvic! Thyme hooted once and spread her wings to cast a shadow. apon her downed prey, if it weren't running already hopefully it would be now. Afterwards she launched herself off of the branch. And would glide towards her ex-prey. If it were running, and if it wasn't she would fly to a higher branch.

Thyme had pondered the idea of her prey being a kelvic, and what that would mean for Thyme and the other. How would thyme apologize if she were able, or how she was going to kill the other kelvic. If it was to make an attempt on Thymes life.

[Morgan]

Morgan continued to lay motionless under the weight of the owl. The only sign that she was alive was an occasional tremble of her body. Would the end come now? It seemed inevitable. Would it be painful? The Kelvic once again cursed her stupidity. Thing like this had never happened to her before so she felt absolutely at ease during her ventures through the forest. Now her carelessness backfired. A predator caught her and Morgan deserved it.

The young woman waited for her unavoidable death and was therefore utterly stunned, when the owl suddenly released her and flew to a nearby tree branch.

Morgan lay there several moments, astonished at her luck. What had just happened? The owl probably lost interest because she stopped struggling. Morgan seemed like an easy prey for it. Then she snapped out of her surprise with a jolt.

This was her chance! A plan was beginning to form in her head.

She couldn’t outrun the owl in her current form. Moreover, she was injured, the left side of her body burned from where one of the talons pierced her skin. The damage probably wasn’t that great, but it hurt nonetheless. Maybe, if she shifted into her human form, she would have a very good chance of surviving. The owl would probably get scared and fly away, surprised by her meal shifting into a human. Morgan obviously didn’t have any weapons on her, but she didn’t expect the owl to attack her in her human form.

As this plan formed in the Kelvic’s mind, she braced herself, shifted and sprang to her feet, turned around to face the creature. Morgan put her hands up to make herself look threatening and made a growling sound at the owl, hoping it would scare it away.

[Thyme]

Thyme Had already taken off from her newly founded snag pole, and was gliding towards. What was now a human, it hadn't really thrown her off though as thyme had. Suspected that the animal that she had chased and caught, might be a kelvic in disguise. Most animals, continue to fight up to they are killed, this one did not, so naturally. Thyme would form speculations that this one was indeed kelvic, even so Thyme wouldn't just stop her pursuit. She was quite curious now, what would its reaction be when Thyme transformed as well, would it try to kill her? Or might it flee once more? Thyme landed in front of the now, human female, Thyme did not attempt to land softly. Instead she had landed with a force that scattered the leaves around her. Thyme would hesitate a moment before transforming, but once she had Thyme would stand up very slowly and run a hand through her hair, "Well, this is a surprise, is it not?" Thyme was still in a predatory state, yet she held a human composure. "Hmm, what to do now?" it was obvious that Thyme was thinking out loud at this point. And whether She was going to continue her aggressions, or remain peaceful was undecided yet. And certainty would not be known to the other person. But until the other being would react, Thyme crossed her legs and sat down on the ground that was directly. In front of herself and her ex-prey, Thyme then looked up into her eyes and just stared. "Well? Will you stay, fight, or flee hmm?" Thyme chuckled to herself "Whatever you are to do, I guess that I owe you an apology. One way or the other so, I am sorry. I do hope your wounds aren't too grievous."

[Morgan]

It came as a huge surprise to Morgan that the owl wasn’t scared by her (hopefully) intimidating stance. It took off again and was gliding through the air towards her. Either the owl was so desperately hungry that it didn’t care about the size of her prey, or…

The owl descended quite impressively on the ground in front of Morgan, who was so stunned that she was unable to move. She just stared at the strange behavior, curiosity started to tug on her mind. She wasn’t afraid as much as before, given the current difference in their sizes. She was quite confident that she would be able to defend herself against the owl. That is, unless it was a normal owl and not a magician. That would be ugly. Magic was said to be very dangerous.

Morgan’s heart sank, her fear returning. Her suspicion confirmed when the owl transformed into a woman. Magic. Morgan cursed her luck again, which was too many times to count during tonight. She watched cautiously as the woman scrutinized her, still much like the predator that she was few moments ago.

The Kelvic listened to the woman talk, still stiff like a statue. ‘Surprise, that’s definitely it.’ She thought grimly.

Suddenly the woman sat down. Morgan jumped at the sudden movement, preparing once again to flee, but when the woman started speaking, she calmed down a little, because the woman didn’t look as threatening as before.

Morgan’s jaw dropped, expression of disbelief showing on her face, when she heard the apology. The woman was actually apologizing! Was she serious? Something like relief passed through the Kelvic. Adrenaline slowly fading away, Morgan felt close to tears again, but this time not out of fear. She fought to keep the emotions in ckeck and scowled to repel the tears. She would NOT cry in front of a stranger!

“D-don’t think I’ll just forgive you so easily, magician. What were you thinking? You nearly killed me. Look what you've done!” her voice squeaky, which didn't add the effect of not being afraid that Morgan was hoping for, and pointed at the small gash on her left side, which was bleeding a little.

[Thyme]

The strange female was rather skittish, much like her animal counterpart. But she seemed to have calmed down once Thyme sat down, and once thyme had apologized for this misunderstanding. It had appeared that the woman that stood before her stifled back tears Thyme was just about to ask if the woman was. Crying when she had spoken up “D-don’t think I’ll just forgive you so easily, magician. What were you thinking? You nearly killed me. Look what you've done!” Thyme hadn't assumed that her ex-prey would forgive her. Well not that easily that is, Thyme then raised an eyebrow in question and simply repeated a part of what the woman had said ”Magician?” She thought to herself for some time. And after she would tilt her head in a over exaggerated gesture and a small grin would form on her lips ”Well I hadn’t expected you to forgive me so easily dear, And to answer your first question. I do believe that I was hunting, and you were the prey, Nearly killed you? Well I didn’t kill you now did I? I guess that just one more thing to be grateful for hmm or would you rather I had?” Thyme leaned forward and locked eyes with her ex-prey, eyeing her as she would as if she were in owl form ”Oh dear, that dose look painful. But I’m sure you will survive, after all you are a tough one.” Thyme’s voice contained hits of sarcasm. Once more a small grin formed apon Thyme’s lips ”What will we do now little bear? Surely you will not simply turn tail and flee like you had previously done. and please, do not be on edge, after all I am of no threat to you.”