Risks... [dead]

[bhuvana]

Bhuvana
Size means nothing in a battle of wits...

One risk for another day of life...These are the words the young girl chanted each day. Her beliefs caused her more pain to the body, but less to the heart. Would I eat a friend? No, and animals are my friends...The regular words that gave her the strength to steal from those not much more fortunate then herself. The ocelot within snarled for blood, but by now she was well aware of how to control the urge.

Bhuvana's pale colored hair and twilight colored clothes were not much of a camoflage, but being an explorer meant the female knew the lands. She pinpointed every bush and tree, using each recource to her advantage as she tiptoed soundlessly to the fields before her. However much she enjoyed attacked her fellow shape shifter, her guilt tore at her gut for theft. But she couldn't live off forest berries; that was obvious. She had tried doing so, and had grown quite weak in the month she attempted.

At the tall stalks of a farmers corn came within reach, Bhuvana lunged, hopefully unseen, into the vegetable forest. Eagerly, she grabbed corn cob after corn cob, not only to feed herself, but her friends as well. The deer and the squirrels often came to her for the feast, knowing in her eyes they were equals.

OOC//: I am so sorry to all who had to suffer that disastorous post. It seemed a good idea at first, but now I regret typing any of it...

[flippedside]

Kaye's lean body moved soundlessly through the tall grasses. The passes might be locked in ice and snow, but this low valley still held signs of fall: cornfields bloomed with late golden corn and the trees glittered with leaves gilded with gold and fire. Her heavy paws muffled the soft pass of her body. Despite the signs of fall, winter's chill still touched this place...But Kaye was immune, her fur thick and lush.

Her winter coat was snow white with tints of ivory and dark rosettes. In the summer, some of her fur shaded to tan to match the loss of snow, but now she was a snowstorm herself, brushing cold through the small forest on the edge of a farmer's lands.

She brushed against the tall grasses growing along the edge of the fields, listening to them hiss and rustle against her fur. She was absorbed in her own world and her own thoughts when a stranger came into view. Kaye paused, hesitating. It was a small woman, lean with hair the color of snow and ice. Kaye considered this. It was a lovely hair color, almost as elegant as her own snowy white...but not quite. Now if she was a cat with dark spots and a black mask as lovely as Kaye's own...But the stranger was only wearing dark clothing. Still, the snow leopard decided, the stranger was not as lovely as her cat self. She sat and licked her side contemplatively. No, no one could be as lovely as a snow leopard in the full bloom and fury of winter.

Her thoughts returned to the stranger, who she could now see was devouring corn as if there was no tomorrow. She sat up, puzzled. Surely this woman was not a farmer--not with the way she was eating the corn. Then was she a starving outcast? Kaye tilted her head, watching with narrowed eyes the color of the ocean--icy and cold. No, that did not seem to make sense. She was dressed well, not a beggar, then.

Well, it was hardly Kaye's business. She had other things to attend to...Like cleaning that spot on her back that the wind kept tickling. She scrubbed vigorously at her fur, before pausing and looking at the stranger again. Well, perhaps she should greet the woman. Kaye was not cold-hearted, though some thought her to be. She had plenty of food back at her lone camp. Perhaps the stranger would like to share some? She had just finished a fat, juicy rabbit, and so wasn't particularly hungry herself, but this woman seemed starved. She paused, shrugged to herself, and shifted shape.

As a human, she was the same size as the stranger, with hair the color of night, and brilliant, icy blue cat eyes. An indigo stone sat in the pommel of the sword strapped to her back, reflecting the afternoon light in scattered shards. The wide black belt around her hips held a number of knives, daggers, and other odds and ends. There was no mistaking Kaye for the warrior-ess that she was.

"Greetings," she called to the other in a friendly voice. "You seem hungry...perhaps instead of mauling that corn, you would like to share my campfire?" She meant her dinner, as well.

It was hard to tell how the stranger would respond. There were many who saw her hard eyes, collection of weapons, and bold confidence and avoided her, while others saw only a woman alone and thought--stupidly--to try to steal from her. Still, if the stranger was friendly, she wouldn't mind someone to talk to. Traveling this place without Nightfall at her back was more lonely than she had expected. A companion would be a pleasant change.

[bhuvana]

Bhuvana's emerald eyes lifted instantly from the corn she shoved into her coat, unaware she had been being watched. She let a hiss escape but paused at the girl spoke. Never had been taught the language of fellow shape-shifters, the female could understand few of what was being said. She caught corn and campfire and also realized the campfire was seemingly being offered to her. She hesitated, looking from corn to women, the back to corn. She had to get some of it to her forest friends. They can wait. I could use something besides corn. The young female thought. She continued to remain silent for a moment before nodding her head, accepting the invite. She then pointed to herself, letting a shy smile show. "Bhuvana." she introduced. Her finger the pointed toward the other girl, indicating for her to share her own name. Bhuvana had never actually spoken to one of her own kind since her parents had gone, but her voice was powerful. Many years she had talked with her animal companions. However confident in herself she was, she was well aware of her lack of intelligence in the language of her people.

[Willow]

A third pair of eyes watched the rather strange exchange, mother-of-pearl green orbs glinting curiously.
Slowly, a step at a time, the human wolf-girl slipped forward through the corn, weaving through the stalks on hands and feet, stretching each limb with each step, barely disturbing the corn. Her hearing was sharp enough to tell her that the sounds she made were too quiet to be heard by the others at this distance, even as she closed the gap leg length by arm length.
She paused when she was just out of sight of the two, morphing easily into the thick-furred wolf.

She waited for the exchange to end, then tensed, crouching lower. Ambush wasn’t usually her style – it went against her wolf instincts – but it usually gave more humorous results...for her, anyway.
Once both had stopped speaking for a few seconds, powerful muscles threw her forward, rustling past the corn and skimming just in front of Kaye with a loud yap.

The wolf landed and spun, twisting around on all fours to face the two again; down on her forelegs with her tail waving and jaw hanging open loosely in a wolfish grin.
She bark/yapped again, looking at Kaye with clear mischief sparking in her summer leaf eyes, wondering if she was recognised and ready to jump out of the way if she wasn’t.
Whilst trying to judge if Kaye was about to gut her, Willow – who else? – was watching the quiet girl in her side vision, taking in the virtually white hair and dark clothes, and the expression on her face.

Concentrating on Kaye again, Willow decided to show herself for who she was and hopefully stop Kaye from sticking a knife in her neck.
The wolf shifted into the tall, long, dark haired girl, kneeling on the ground with a cheeky grin upon her face, the knee of her old, battered white cat suit getting dirty on the ground. Her pair of swords hung across her back as always, with additional, smaller blades hanging from her belt, as Kaye had. Little pockets lined the top strap of her sword harness, each containing an individual poison or antidote. Different coloured pieces of cloth were pinned across the top of each, to make for an easy identification if one be needed in a hurry.

Still grinning, Willow stood, her head a good few feet below the tall stems of maize, but still higher than the others, and stepped back, her grin descending into a smile even though her eyes still brimmed with exuberance.

“Hey, Kaye.” She said, pretending to be under the impression that smiling enough and acting innocent would be enough to avoid whatever Kaye was thinking of doing to punish her.
Remembering her manners, and to assure the white haired girl that was wasn’t completely mad, Willow turned to her and smiled again, repeating the greeting but giving her own name instead, tapping her collar lightly as she did.

[flippedside]

Kaye was just about to answer the question the young woman--Bhuvana--had asked, when a wolf leaped out at her. Leaping backwards, and snatching at her knives, she lost her balance and pinwheeled for a moment, her heel snagging on a root. She still managed to draw a long, thin piece of steel, but distantly realized that the creature hadn't intended harm, judging by its yapping and the fact that she was unharmed. She regained her balance and quickly covered her gracelessness, glaring at the wolf. When it shifted into a kneeling Willow, the corners of her lips twitched and then she fell about in helpless laughter, sliding her stiletto away.

"Hello, Willow. I'm afraid that wasn't one of my better moments." She waited while Willow introduced herself, watching the stranger.

The girl seemed confident, but Kaye half-wondered if she were dull-witted, judging by her strange actions. She didn't seem to speak well, and someone stealing and devouring corn was a bit of an unusual sight. She shrugged to herself, and then pointed clearly at her chest. "I'm Kaye." She made sure her name was accented some, so the girl wouldn't confuse her name with her introduction.

Kaye turned back to Willow. "She seemed a bit...hungry, so I invited her to eat with me. You may join us, if you wish, though I don't have much of interest to offer. My food's been well-traveled, lately." That, Kaye reflected briefly, was the understatement of the year. She'd reprovisioned herself in the last town she'd been in...but that had been more than a week ago. Lately, she found herself mainly eating small game. Little food and long days of travel had slimmed her frame down more than usual, leaving her mostly bone and lean muscle. Her snow leopard side asserted itself briefly, reminding her that a rabbit was not enough meat and that her coat was growing dry from lack of fat. She shrugged the thought away to deal with later.

She turned back towards the woods, gesturing with a tilt of her head, "This way." Back from the sight of the farm crops and the city walls, nestled under a rock ledge, Kaye had built a small camp. It was nothing fancy: just some sticks waiting to be lit and a neat small roll offering some extra weapons, her heavy cloak/blanket, and some dried food.

Kaye knelt and started the fire, watching the tiny flames lick up up the kindling and into the larger sticks, the heat warming her cheeks and nose. She hadn't realized until then how cold she was. And it would only grow colder the farther north she went...Lucky, then, that she could spend most of her time in her snow leopard shape.

The wind whipped past, threatening to blow the fire out, as Kaye pulled bread and cheese for toasting out of her small pack. She shivered slightly in the wind and thought darkly that the problem with coastal cities was the wind and the fog. The flames glimmered in strange foreign dances, speaking a language that she didn't know. She carefully sliced through the heavily wrapped cheese, laying it on the bread. The edges were tough with age, and she was grateful that it was being melted. It would take away some of the hardness. Kneeling and laying the bread and cheese near the fire, Kaye commented, "Not much, but it sure beats corn."

[bhuvana]

A mild growl escaped the females mouth as something leapt between her and the other girl. The flame tinted eyes gentled as the realization it was a wolf became clear. The warm look dissipitated as the wolfess morphed into a crpuching girl, smiling sheepishly up at the other. Bhuvana, not fond of being tricked, gave a low grumble but couldn't stay upset as the well armored female introduced herself as Willow.

It was obvious the other two already knew eachother, judging by their friendly conversing and the fact Willow had not killed the other when she had stumbled. Both were well protected with blades of all sizes, not ones you'd like to battle. When the orginal girl introduced herself as I'm Kaye, Bhuvana felt the name was strange and didn't quite fit. But as she played back the females words, she realized the emphisization had been on Kaye, so most likely the I'm part had nothing to do with it.

Following both females, one corn cob in each of her pockets, Bhuvana felt a sense of protection she rarely felt when away from her forest companions. She usually had to depend on her ownself for protection, but now that she stood in a pack of sorts, she let her guard slide ever so slightly.

As Kaye produced fire Bhuvana felt a tingle of fear for the glowing reds and oranges. The flames seemed to reach for her, wanting to lick at her flesh and leave it's charred scars. But, not needing to seem cowardly in front of the other two, Bhuvana remained firm, graciously accepting the strange concotion offered to her.

Sniffing the strange thing, Bhuvana narrowed her eyes. It smelled nothing like her usual diet; corn, berries, leaves, and deers milk. The thing between the two slabs of pillowy white things smelled fainlty like the deers milk, but obviously had no direct relation. Still, Bhuvana felt her hunger pricking at her fingers, dragging the strange meal to her lips. Taking the smallest of bites, the female chewed thoughtfully for a long while. As she swallowed, a smile formed. This is way better then corn! She looked to Kaye, wondering if this meal had a name. She pointed to the object in her hand, continuing to look at Kaye, and then Willow, hoping one would understand her question. Her eyes seem to glow at the tastes dancing on her tongue, and her lips were curved in a smile.

[Willow]

“Food sounds good. All I’ve been eating lately is meat, meat and more meat. Deer, rabbit and wild pigs for who knows how long; I don’t bother counting the days past a week.” Willow laughed, pulling a face. She was a carnivore to heart, but it’d be nice to have a change.

“I brought down an elk up there about three days ago, but I’m starting to feel peckish again,” She said nodding vaguely towards the mountains as they started to walk, stretching and roughing her hair up to give the roots a break from holding the weight of more than a metre of hair. When she went to pull her hand away, it caught stubbornly in the matted strands.
Growling a bit, Willow shook her hand violently until it pulled free, then shook her head to stop a section of her hair standing up like an angry cat’s back.
“The disadvantage of running through a forest with hair like this,” She said sheepishly, pointing at her own head. A few small leaves and strands of bracken were caught in the mess; it evidently had been through some rough treatment, even though it was perfectly clean, having been washed the day before in a river that had been covered in a layer of ice til Willow broke it, had still managed to become a tangled matt.

As they neared the camp, Willow sat down heavily and raided her bag, drawing out a few ears of corn, carrots, potatoes and a few other vegetables.
“Three guesses why I was at the farm,” She joked, nodding at her small set of spoils before setting them in the middle for everyone to share.

“Oooh, that’s nice,” She murmured, holding her hands perilously close to the dancing flames, ignoring the small sparks leaping from their fellows and striking just past her. She was used to fire – what with the amount of games she’d played with it with the other kids, she couldn’t not be used to it.
A fond smile came to her lips as she remembered, then a spark of near childish mischief lit her eyes as she quickly but calmly passed her hand through the heart of the flames, it emerging through the other side unscathed but significantly warmer. She copied the movement with her other hand, then clenched them briefly, the knuckles cracking before she claimed a cob of corn, warmed by the fire, and started munching away at it.

She glanced up when she saw Bhuvana’s head moving between her and Kaye, pointing at her bread and cheese.
She paused for a second, evaluating what Bhuvana was trying to ask, then answered her, though it sounded more like a question.
“Cheese and bread...?” She glanced at the three-layered sandwich in the white blond girl’s hand, then repeated it more firmly.
“Bread,” She spoke slowly, exaggerating each syllable a little as she pointed to a thus far unused slice of it. “Cheese,” She added in the same tone, her pointing finger hovering just above the main chunk Kaye had cut the slices from.
She watched Bhuvana carefully, waiting for some sign of understanding in her jewel like eyes.

[bhuvana]

Bhuvana felt her stomach flip at the familiar word, meat, danced in the air. She reacted only slightly, the warm look cooling a bit. She looked to the objects her her hand, sniffing them again to be sure no flesh was being tricked to her. Once satisfied, she looked back to the two, and waited for a response.

The wolf former, Willow, was the one who responded first. Bhuvana felt a bit of disgust, for this was the girl that had spoken of meat. But she shook away the hideous feeling, not enjoying its odd sensation.

Copying the female, she pointed to the two mossy feeling slabs. "Bread." she stated in a confident voice. Then pointed to the middle object. "Cheese." again she mimicked. "Bread and Cheese." The two names rolled easily off her tongue, satisfying her that the women had not falsely understood her and given her wrong information.

She watched the wolf former take out her own corn, right after doing an act that had frozen Bhuvana in mild fear. She had placed her hands within the dancing flames, letting the warm substance lick at her skin. No scars had formed, nothing like the disaster that occurred when the forest came alight. Assured Willow was not crazy or injured, Bhuvana's tensed body loosened, and a content smile returned with the glow of her eyes. Taking another bite of the cheese and bread, her eyes danced between the two girls that seemed to be friends.

[flippedside]

OOC: So I had a lovely post going yesterday, but I was also in process of rendering my animation (creating the final images with shadows/lights/color/etc) when my friend crashed my computer, so...Here's try two. (Fortunately, I didn't lose the half of my animation that had already rendered.)

Kaye listened with only half her attention to Willow's light conversation, the rest of her mind unconsciously focused on her surroundings. The light rustle in the leaves overhead and the soft shifting of grass under small paws were all cataloged and stored in her mind.

She nodded at Willow's comment about eating only meat. "I know it. I ate a rabbit earlier, but...only my leopard half likes raw meat." She pulled a face. Actually, her leopard half had been complaining about the lack of food, but there was no easy solution. She could spend more time hunting game, but that was time lost from her own travels...

Kaye pulled toasted bread and cheese away from the heat of the fire and bit in, suddenly hungry. She grimaced slightly at the taste of stale bread, remembering that it had been days since she'd last seen civilization. She speared a potato on a stick, and stuck it into the flames to roast, pleased for the change of diet. Vegetables, like fruit, didn't travel well. "I can't complain, though I hate to steal," she told Willow as she slowly turned the potato in the flames.

She watched, amused, as the girl ran her hands through the flames, remembering how, in her childhood, others used to do the same. For herself, Kaye had never felt much affinity for fire. It provided heat and warm food, but it stole from the darkness that she so preferred. She studied the woods about them, listening to the silence. It wasn't night yet, so she could see clearly past the flames, though the thick trees cast heavy shadows.

Kaye didn't notice Bhuvana pointing until Willow spoke. She focused in on their words, and found herself fascinated as the girl repeated the words. Could she not speak? Well, her voice worked fine, but she didn't seem to know Rhyallian. Kaye was puzzled by this. Speech was something almost taken for granted; she had never considered it much. Perhaps if she'd been around children, she might have considered the process for learning to speak, but her life had never gone that way. She knew of no language other than Rhyallian, and so couldn't comprehend that there could be other languages.

She was suddenly more intrigued by the stranger who had been stealing corn. She grabbed a piece of corn and pointed to it. "Corn." She watched Bhuvana's eyes, looking for a sense of understanding. "Sit." She waved to herself, and then stood. "Stand," she said, finding herself getting more into this new game of words. She munched the corn. Then said, "Eat corn." She sat again, repeating, "Sit," as she continued chewing the corn. She gazed intently at Bhuvana's golden-green eyes, waiting to see the girl's response.

[bhuvana]

[/b] she spoke. She had been aware of the name, but had not really known how to speak it before now. She took a small bite of it, not wanting to steal too much from her furred friends she had picked the cob for. "Eat Corn." she mumbled, words fumbled as she chewed and swallowed. Placing the corn back into her pocket, she paused, trying to interpret the 'sit' word. Usually the female caught things rather quickly, objects anyway. But this new word did not seem to be an object, since Kaye had not pointed to anything in particular.

Suddenly the message processed and a giggle of pleasure escaped the females lips. Throwing herself to her bottom onto the ground she laughed, "Sit!" Acting much younger then her true age, she leaped back to her feet, her lips still vibrating with her laughter. "Stand!" This seemed all a game to her, but she knew this knowledge would help her in the future. She was fine with her solitary life, but would be even more fine if she was able to share her life with another. [/size][/ul]

[Willow]

[OOC: sorry, shoooort post - it's half one in the morning and I'd better get some sleep before I give myself non-plane-related jet-lag]

Willow watched Bhuvana curiously as she grasped at the new words, wondering just how many words she knew.
Once Kaye’s bout of teaching had paused, Willow jumped in to help too, holding up each of the food items that hadn’t been named yet and labelling them, before moving onto other things; picking up blades of grass and naming it, then the soil beneath.
She then got up and crossed to the nearest tree, speaking its name as she lay her hand on its trunk, tapping it to indicate she meant the object she was touching and not the act of touching something.
She then plucked one of its leaves, and one of its neighbours, bringing them to Bhuvana for inspection.
“Leaves,” She said, holding both of them up. “Leaf, leaf,” She continued, alternating which one she held up with each word.
She then set one down and drew Bhuvana’s attention to the one still in her hand.
“Birch leaf,” She said, tracing the broad, spiky outline of the leaf, then trading it for the other. “Maple leaf,” She pronounced, pointing out the difference between the two.
She then went back to the trees she’d stolen from, patting them on the trunk in turn.
“Birch tree, Maple tree”. She came back to Bhuvana, tilting her head questioningly, to ask if she understood rather than speak the word aloud and confuse her.

[bhuvana]

[/b]she tried again, even though she was sure that wasn't what they were looking for. She looked closer to the two. There had to be some difference. Then she saw it; the shape! She pointed to the three pointed leaf. "Maple leaf." she said, her voice rising back up to it's confident tone. The other must have been birch so she pointed to it. "Birch leaf." She did the same for the two trees, examining them closely to find decently obvious differences and then gave them the proper label.

OOC//: Ugh brain dead, lol
[/size][/ul]

[flippedside]

Kaye watched with both interest and amusement as Willow animatedly pointed out objects and their names. Bhuvana was responded with an easy confidence, combined with interest and curiosity. It only made Kaye more puzzled. The girl was certainly intelligent, so why couldn't she speak? She longed to ask, but couldn't, so long as the girl didn't speak their language. She huffed softly to herself in irritation at her inability to communicate, but joined the conversation again as she saw Bhuvana struggling to understand the difference between leaf types. This, too, intrigued her deeply. At last, the girl seemed to understand, her face lighting with pleasure. Had she never noticed the differences between such things, Kaye wondered, or was it just the difference and yet similarity in their names that confused her. Again she felt frustrated by her inability to question the girl. Until now, she hadn't realized how deeply important language was. For her, it had always just been there, something to take for granted.

When Bhuvana understood the concept of differing leaf and tree types, Kaye waved to Willow, to bring her attention back on herself. "I think we ought to stop, or she'll forget everything we've already taught her." She was about to say more when she stopped, startled. A deer was peering curiously at them from the trees. It stepped hesitantly forward, eyes wide and soft, but curious. At first, Kaye thought it was a shifter by its actions and stood quickly.

But her actions startled the creature, sending it bounding back into the woods--but not too far. "Don't tell me you're another who can't speak," she called sarcastically to it. The deer just gazed at her, its eyes blank with a lack of understanding. Only its massive ears twitched, hearing the sounds she made, but having no understanding of them. It was just a regular deer, but she'd never seen one act so strangely. Was it ill? She reached thoughtfully towards her unstrung bow, thinking it might make for several meals of good eating. Her counterpart asked to be allowed out to hunt more naturally.

Quietly, she told Willow, "I've never seen an animal act like that before, but I'm sure it's not a shifter, like us."

She hesitated, her hand on the bow, afraid to hunt a sick animal. She didn't need to catch any strange diseases herself. And why else would a deer walk right up to their camp? She was both leopard and human: natural enemy to such a creature.

[bhuvana]

[/size][/ul]

[Willow]

Willow nodded in agreement; you only take new information in if you learn it in short chunks. If you try to cram loads in, it’s not as effective.

She twitched her head towards a soft sound behind her, turning to look at whatever was causing the look of surprise on Kaye’s face.
At the sight of the deer, Willow shifted to wolf, but made no move to attack or otherwise do anything. She was rather tired of deer after the past few weeks.

An ear twitched in Kaye’s direction when she challenged the creature, but Willow could already tell this was no shape shifter; the scent was purely deer.

She nodded calmly at Kaye’s assessment, verifying her guess, but had no time to react further than that; she was instead surging to her paws and sliding between Kaye and Bhuvana, fangs bared at the latter as a low snarl grated past her black gums, her ears pinned flat to her skull with her hackles raised and bristling, her tail sticking out horizontally as she tensed in a half crouch, the already large wolf appearing almost twice as big as her fur stood on end.
Her maw opened wider as the volume of her snarl increased, snapping at then empty air in front of her. Even if normal humans still existed, they’d have been able to tell what Willow meant: back down.

Whilst her body was responding automatically, shaking her with the vicious noise rumbling from her chest, Willow was wondering what had triggered such a reaction from the seemingly shy Bhuvana; they hadn’t shown any threatening behaviour towards her. It also struck her that Bhuvana’s reaction was far more animalistic than human, as if she didn’t know how to display anger or aggression as a human.

Playing back what had happened just before Bhuvana had reacted, Willow couldn’t help but notice that she had only shown aggression when Kaye had moved to grab her bow, with the aim of shooting the deer. So she was defensive of the deer? That was...strange...Bhuvana seemed to be more of a predatory shifter than herbivorous, now she was acting to attack or defend. If she had been a herbivore; another deer, say, then her stance would have been entirely different; poised more to run and kick than to jump and claw or bite.

Thinking this, Willow waved her tail once, purposefully whacking Kaye powerfully in the back of her legs to get her attention. Once claimed, she jerked her head at the deer, still watching from the woods, although it was dithering on whether to run or not. Willow then shook her head; indicating to not attack the deer. She decided not to transform to convey this verbally; Bhuvana knew so little of their language that she may mistake it for an order to attack and act offensively herself. This way, she might grasp what Willow was trying to say a little better.