Sands to Spruces

[Anonymous]

He sensed he was nearing life.

He could feel the... beat. The rhythm. And as Toreh squinted, he could see the sands giving way to trees. He grinned. It felt great to leave this harsh desert. He liked it, sure. It was a part of this world, with its own inhabitants and wonders. But life was scarce. The trees offered more diversity.

He stopped for a moment, focusing. 'Better embrace beasts with one,' he thought. In his mind, he pictured his lupine form, the sleek fur rippling in the sandy wind, his paws against the shifting earth. And he began to shift. First was his build. His muscles began to distribute themselves across his body. His legs twisted, forcing him on all fours. His face pointed outwards. The fur began to grow, starting from his chest, then to his shoulders, legs, and finally face. Then the particular changes began. His tail smoothed itself out. His canines, aptly named, grew in. His eyesight and other sense changed, heightened. And soon enough, he was a wolf once again.

Toreh utttered a passionate howl, and set off at a quick pace. He was determined to enter the forest, to sense the breath of life in it. But as he neared the green expanse, he sensed... something else. A stronger breath, if you will. Something... sentient. He slowed to a trot, and sniffed the ground. The earth under his paws, no longer sand.

There was something, someone, there.

[Anonymous]

In his eyes he had quite the setup. His home was quiet and fairly peaceful besides the normal 'neighbor' drama. Of course, his neighbors weren't anywhere near human. Julian spent the majority of his day making sure the animals of the forest that he didn't want in his territory -the pesky monkeys and fellow natural predators- stayed out. This meant lots of patrolling on his part, though mostly it wasn't necessary since nobody really wanted to kick him out. Nonetheless, he found himself walking the perimeter nearly every day instead of relaxing in the little camp-home he'd created in a clearing near the center of what he considered to be his.

On this day he was, again, making his rounds. Everything had seemed normal for the most part, though he had encountered some annoying birds that had insisted on following him through the trees. Irritated that after several hours they weren't going away, he attempted to scare them with a glare over his shoulder which, of course, did nothing to deter them. That was when he heard the most alien sound to this area. A howl. A howl that was loud and a bit too close for comfort. In Julian's experience howls meant predators. Predators were not welcome as far as he was concerned, and so he marched off in the general direction of what he'd heard. Even in human form he could tell there was something off as he neared. He couldn't quite smell a wolf, his nose wasn't that good for a whole jungle of smells, but he could tell that something wasn't quite right.

Climbing a tree up to some lower branches, he hopped from tree to tree in an attempt to get the upper hand if whatever was around was something dangerous. And then he spotted some creature with sleek, black fur, and he wasn't too happy about it. Frowning, he crouched on a branch and glared down as Toreh neared. "Hey! Dog!" he hollered down, crossing his arms and resting his elbows on his knees. "Scram! How did you wander this far out without dying?! Go on, get out of here!" And then he was waving a hand lazily at the wolf, unhappy about the idea of trying to steer a wandering animal away from his land.

[Anonymous]

"Hey! Dog! Scram! How did you wander this far out without dying?! Go on, get out of here!"

He almost rolled his eyes. Had he never seen a wolf before? Or even a warewolf, much less a shifter? Toreh pondered that fore a moment. He had seen a lot in Essryn, but not everything. Not a dragon, for sure. Or a Kelpie. He'd heard about them, but not seen them.... He shook his head. He knew where the tree-kid was coming from. He grinned a little, his canines showing. 'Way to scare him,' he thought. But the kid had still ticked him off. Well then, let's see how he likes to play.

Toreh began to focus; nothing special, just a little wind. But the wind REALLY picked up. The sands behind him began to twist and flow in the currents. It brushed against his fur, mottling the smooth black hairs. The leaves quietly rustled. And then he focused on the figure, sitting in the tree. The winds followed.

He didn't even check to see if the figure had fallen off. Toreh suspected that no one had seen a creature of his own skills before. He hadn't, at least. To show some respect, he began to focus again, on his human self. His body changed like before, but in reverse. The hair slowly shrank back into his skin, while his face contorted back into a human's. His bones shifted, sending him into an upright position. Then, as always, the particulars clear up. His senses returned to normal, his speech was cleared. And most particularly, he was wearing clothes. Toreh always wondered at this. Maybe it was the magic part. His family, well, ex-family, always had to reshift in private. Well, nonetheless, it was helpful. Right now, anyway, he was wearing black trousers and a black belt, with pouches attached. He rathered it than a pack when traveleing. And to complete the color, he had black soft shoes on. They made walking in the sand, and any other terrain, easier.

Then he saw the figure walking towards him. Toreh himself folded his arms on his bare chest, interested in what the figure wanted. The figure stopped at at foot from the treeline.

[Anonymous]

As the "dog" flashed his teeth at him, Julian knew nothing of what it meant; all he could tell was that it made him feel a little threatened, feel the urge to show his own and hiss and spit and claw. Being a human at the moment, though, proved to be quite the obstacle and he immediately dropped his lips into a frown as he felt the top one begin to curl up. As the wind swirled around in the sands in front of him he thought nothing of it at first. It wasn't exactly abnormal for there to be wind in a desert, after all. When it started blowing into the trees, however, he knew something was off.

The wind hit him hard and knocked him, literally, off his feet. Torn backward, he scrambled to dig his nails into the branch he'd been squatting atop, a grimace appearing on his face in his bewilderment and frustration. Looking down, noticing that the canine was still there, he huffed and grumbled his displeasure about his current situation. Eventually, he admitted defeat. He felt foolish just hanging there and decided to just drop down rather than embarrass himself trying to climb back up without much leverage.

Hitting the ground softly, he turned his attention toward himself. Checking his shoulders by swinging his arms around, he was relieved that he hadn't pulled something from holding onto a branch so awkwardly. Frowning and lifting his head, he was ready to give that wild beast a piece of his mind and when he lifted his eyes..he wasn't there. Confused, he stared at the man that just stood there with his arms folded. It didn't really connect at first that this man was the wolf he'd just seen from his perch. "Hey," he started awkwardly, unsure of what to do now that the animal he'd been intent on chasing away was just gone.

Walking toward Toreh, Julian squinted in confusion. He was sure he would have seen the black wolf slink away, so he was dumbfounded as he approached the only being that seemed to be in the area besides himself. "Uh...did you notice that dog? There was a dog, I'm sure he ran away..did you see where it went?" He was gentle with his words now, of course, because he just wasn't making that connection between man and wolf as he hadn't really encountered many other shifters in his life.

ooc: Apologies for taking so long! Life has been hectic lately! ><

[Anonymous]

Toreh rolled his eyes. 'Really?' he thought. He didn't reply though; just a flash of annoyance across his face. If this kid was that blaise, he'd really have to put on a show to change his mind. He thought about it for a moment. This guy could really mess him up when he was shifting, when he was weak. But it would be totally worth the look on his face. Toreh grinned mischievously. 'Here goes nothing' he told himself.

He stepped back, and turning his head to the sky, he let loose a roar. He wasn't quite lupine yet, so a howl was out of the question. His fists were at his sides to complete the pose. He would be laughing if he wasn't caught up in the raw energy of it all. He willed the winds to move again, and they did. Slowly, the sand at his feet began to swirl, and soon enough, his lower torso was caught up in a sandstorm. Through all of this, he prayed that he wouldn't lose control. He was a novice, after all.

Toreh then began to shift. His metal grasp slipped on the wind for a second, but he grabbed it back. It had grown, but he was too busy to notice. This time, he shifted all at once. It was the quickest, but not the prettiest. He frame swivled to a four-footed animal's, hair began to grow all about his body, and his canine features started to show themselves. The process quickened, and soon, he was his beastial self.

He howled, and the wind lessened, the sands calming down. He tried to focus even more, and could feel the sun's heat. He strengthened it, and a flame burst forth in front of him. It grew too big, and scorched his fur. But Toreh ignored it, for now. He could fix it later. His gaze turned back to the kid, who was dealing appropriately. 'What's done is done,' he thought. His wolfish eyes closed, he began to shift back, and soon, he was once again human, his arms crossed again.

"Any questions?"

ooc: Same here, good to see ya again.

[Anonymous]

Julian didn't understand why this guy wasn't answering him. Is he angry or something? he wondered for the eye-rolling as he cocked his head to the side in confusion. As the other began shifting he stepped back a little, wary of what was happening and knowing he had little but distance to protect himself at present should he be attacked. Watching, things slowly began connecting. His features gradually took on a look of annoyance rather than something blank.

With the wind whipping sand around he backed away even further and shielded his face with a forearm. "You brat. What are you doing?!" he whined, peeking over his arm at Toreh, who was now back into his wolf form. Frowning as he lowered his arm, Julian brushed at the sand on his clothes. It didn't do much for him, though, so he soon ceased the pointless action. Raising his eyes to the wolf, he stared Toreh down in his best attempt at intimidation. At least until a flame jumped up in front of the canine, startling Julian and making him jump back after squealing in surprise. He didn't really like fire unless it was necessary and he certainly didn't like spontaneous flame just erupting like that.

Wide-eyed, he stared across the space between them in silence, unsure of what Toreh would do next. What's his problem?! Showing off like that...

As he watched Toreh shifting back, his ideas were confirmed and his look of bewilderment quickly switched off to something more hostile. At the cocky question posed, he scowled. "You little punk!" he started, angry that someone had managed to startle him like that. "You have some serious problems, mister! Who do you think you are waltzing into my home and putting on a display like that?! What a shame to all shifters! You!...you should...BE ASHAMED! Yeah! Be ashamed of yourself! How dare you treat a stranger so poorly!"

When he was finally done, Julian was nothing short of flustered. He was angry, which he thought was reasonable enough. After a few moments to compose himself he too crossed his arms, but his stance was defensive rather than confident. "Well, what are you here for? Why'd you come all the way out here, huh? To disturb my peace? I bet you did...little punk."

[Anonymous]

(OoC: She's BAAACCCCK!)

He stared Julian down with hard eyes. "You didn't get it," he responded stoically, "so I made you understand. I don't like it when people intimidate me." Arms crossed, he gazed over at the forest nearby. "You live in the trees?" he asked. without waiting for an answer, he replied, "How's that work out for you? Any renegade squirrels? You need to get out more." Inwardly, he sighed. It felt great to feel the beat of life again. The only other time he had felt this much vibrance was in the markets back home. Or at dinnertime, with family and friends mostly. He turned, nostagically remembering his family, who had dishonored him.

Turning back to the forest kid, he stated, "Okay, I'm sorry about all that magic. I didn't know who you were, or if there's more of you. I haven't seen civilization - no, life - in a couple months." His eyes began to tear up, but he swallowed his sadness, maintaining a hard expression towards the outsider. Or... was he the one from the outside? He pushed the argument away.