Cat and Mouse [open!]

[Rhindeer]

Raxta lounged in the net she was currently trapped in, which swung slowly from the canopy above. Or rather, it looked like she was lounging, but in truth, she'd worn herself out from her frantic struggles and now lacked the energy to do much more than just swing there and...

Accept her fate, she supposed.

She had tried to escape, but when the net had swept her off her feet and up into the trees, she had dropped her knife. Though she had claws and teeth, the fibers of the net were too tough to bite through, too thick for her claws to cut. She'd tried clawing at them, she'd tried biting, she'd tried screaming in frustration and thrashing for all she was worth, but it was no use, and it was made all the worse by the sight of her dagger laying on the ground below, hopelessly out of reach.

Like it was taunting her with freedom she couldn't attain.

Eventually, she wore herself out, which she knew was probably good. The humidity was getting to her, sweat slicking her skin, and struggling would only make her lose more water. Dehydration was her number one danger right now--second only to the obvious question of who laid the trap?

And what would they do when they found her in it?

With a sigh, Raxta shifted in the netting and tried to get comfortable, but it was scratchy and bit into her skin in the worst of ways. Her tail slipped through the netting and twitched anxiously as she waited, arms crossed over her chest as she stared up into the trees, a low growl in her throat.

At this point, she wasn't worried about being found; she wanted the culprit to show up. If it was an accident, so be it, but if they were hostile?

Well, they would see what happened when one messed with jaguar-kin.

They would learn then and there that she was the hunter, and that they, truly, were the hunted.

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela had gotten lost in thought, fruitlessly waiting for some helpless animal to get caught in her trap. She had been on the run now for two weeks. Kaela made a mental note to not go in Adela for a long time. Then her ears perked up. Some kind of animal had gotten caught in her last trap she had set. She smirked. She unsheathed her dagger and slid down from the tree where she had been perched. She stealthily made her way over to the grove of trees where that trap was, and peeked through the undergrowth. What she saw was not what she was expecting.
"What the actual hell, you're not an animal!"
Then she studied it more closely. She held her dagger in a defensive position, and her eyes narrowed.
"Were you following me?" And then she got closer.
"Are there others with you?"

[Rhindeer]

Arms folded over her chest, Raxta scowled up at the trees as she more or less just...accepted her fate. Someone would come looking for her eventually, right? But in the meantime, it looked like it was going to be a long—

"Wah!" A voice spoke up, cutting through the quick, and Raxta jerked back to alertness, her tail bristling as her ears snapped erect. Twisting in the net, she shifted just enough that she could look toward the voice—and her ears drooped.

Not one of her people. It was a human. And she had a knife.

Raxta's lip curled, just enough to flash some fang. "This your trap?" she said, ignoring the girl's questions, and she stabbed a finger at the netting. "That knife better be for cutting me down."

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela snorted.
"Well this dagger isn't for killing you, unless you give me a reason to."
Kaela leaned against a tree trunk, suspiciously watching the—whatever it was. She still couldn't figure that out.
She glared at it. Her grip on the knife unconsciously tightened the more she looked at it.
"You probably scared away all the smaller animals too," she mused.
"How do I know if I cut you down you won't kill me?" Kaela questioned. She flipped the knife and caught it, still quite confused on what was resting in the net. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she really didn't want to kill this thing, whatever it was. But what if it was hostile? What if it had been chasing her? Apprehensively, she spoke to the creature.
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you," her grip on the knife was wavering. 

[Rhindeer]

Raxta opened her mouth then closed it, frowning. Those were two very good questions.

She huffed, rolling her eyes skyward. "You don't know that I won't," she said. "And I don't have any good reasons why you shouldn't."

She shifted in the netting to settle into an awkward crouch, eyes fixed on the human and head tilted. Her tail flicked, dancing restlessly. "But I can guarantee that if you try to take me out, I'll take you with me. And I can promise that if you let me out, I'd have no good reason to hurt you."

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela weighed her options. She was already feeling rather guilty about the last dragon she rather gruesomely killed. The money she got was decent, but she still felt slightly guilty. But on the other hand, if she didn't kill this—whatever it was—(Kaela realized she still didn't know what this thing was); it could still kill her. But it did promise to not kill her. She glanced at the dagger, then glanced at the creature. She rubbed her eyes.
"Why me?" She groaned to herself.
She sighed. Kaela looked at the creature.
"Ok, I'll cut you loose. Don't make me regret this." She climbed up a tree, and carefully cut at one of the ropes supporting the trap. She had made a crude pulley system of sorts to make it easier to get her kills down when they were foolish enough to get caught. As the rope snapped, she caught it, and then jumped out of the tree, letting the the rock she had tied to the other side of the trap go up so she could fall down. That way, the trap lowered to the ground in a controlled fashion. When the whole contraption was on the ground, Kaela carefully approached the creature. She held her hands up in a peaceful manner.
"I'm just going to cut you loose, that's all." And she carefully but quickly cut the net so the creature could get out of it.

[Rhindeer]

It was a bluff and a gamble. Trapped in a net, Raxta was at a serious disadvantage. If this woman wanted her dead...well, there would be little she could do about it except try to make it difficult.

Her eyes flicked to the dagger as the girl seemed to consider her words, her heart thumping loudly in her ears. Maybe she had said the wrong thing, but she had hoped a little candidness might nudge things in her favor. Maybe she should have lied instead and promised to be good. She held her breath, waiting for the woman's judgement, tense and prepared for the worst—but it didn't come.

Raxta let her breath out slowly and nodded. She would behave, for now at least.

She watched the woman climb, mildly impressed that a creature with no claws of her own could be so nimble as she made quick work of the trap. Raxta half expected her to just let her drop to the ground and she braced herself for the fall, but instead she was lowered gently to the leaf-littered ground. No longer pulled taut, the netting fell atop her.

Now came the moment of truth. The woman approached, hands up and knife gleaming in the light, and Raxta watched her with narrowed eyes. But as promised, the girl only used it to cut the net open. As soon as she saw her opening, Raxta shoved at the netting and crawled out, quickly rising to her feet and brushing the dirt off her knees. She straightened to her full height (shorter than the human, blast) and gave the woman her best imperious look while having to look up. You know, as though she hadn't just been stuck in a net looking pathetic as hell.

"You made the right choice, human," she said with a swish of her tail. "Now I don't have to gut you. As promised."

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela tensed when the creature quickly got up, half expecting it to attack. But it did not. She nervously backed up a few steps and rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry about that, I wasn't trying to catch you it just sorta happened." Kaela still was holding the dagger pretty tightly, she definitely still didn't trust it. She quickly looked over her shoulder.
"You haven't uh, happened to see any other people passing through here, have you?" She asked. Damn she's been in one place too long. One rule of going on the run: don't stay in one place. She heard a branch snap, and she turned around only to find nothing. She winced as she turned around, remembering that the last dragon she killed had managed to wound her on her side before the dragon died. Damn, she must have opened up the stitches when she jumped down.
"Oh shit," she muttered.
"You don't happen to know a healer or somethin close by?"
Well that was stupid to ask. They were in the middle of a fucking jungle! She mentally facepalmed. It was the lack of sleep and no food, she told herself.
She glanced down at her side to see how bad the bleeding was. She sucked in a breath. That definitely was worse than she thought.

[Rhindeer]

The woman seemed jumpy. Very jumpy to be twitching at the snap of a twig like that. Raxta cut a look toward the sound, one ear rotating to listen, and with an amused quirk of her lips observed a small monkey picking fruit off the ground. It blended in well with the leaves.

How had this human survived on her own this long? She had always heard humans were terrible at surviving.

"No other humans, no," she said with a shake of her head before squinting her eyes at the woman suspiciously. "Should I be expecting more of you? You seem awfully--"

Whatever she had been about to say was cut off by the woman's sudden, muttered curse, and then the question about a healer.

That's when it came to her: the subtle, coppery smell of rust. Raxta followed the woman's eyes as she looked down at her side, and her eyebrows rose. When had she done that? Just now while she was getting her down?

"Clumsy," she muttered under her breath with a shake of her head. How had she ever been worried about this silly human? Her question about healers, though, was...problematic. There were healers. Her tribe's wise woman was one, and she had several apprentices studying under her. But why tell the woman that when she couldn't take her there even if she wanted to--because she wasn't allowed back. "No," she finally said. "I don't know any. You'll have to stop the bleeding soon. If it doesn't kill you, something bigger than you will."

She paused. She had fulfilled her part of the bargain: she hadn't harmed the woman. And the woman had fulfilled her end by cutting down. As far as Raxta was concerned, they were square. This human's problems--this stranger's problems--were her own!

And yet Raxta hesitated, looking her over with a scowl.

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela sighed, expecting that answer. They were out in the middle of nowhere after all. She leaned against a tree and inspected the cut that had reopened. The bleeding had slowed down alittle, so she used her dagger and cut a long narrow strip of her shirt sleeve and clumsily wrapped it around the wound. She might be a good hunter, but she was no healer. That would have to do until she got somewhere civilized. She looked up at the creature.
"Dragon claws left a nasty mark," she explained.
"So, what are you, exactly?" She asked, before putting her dagger in its sheath.
She carefully reached up and pulled on a vine, testing its weight. She had left her bow and arrow and her supplies up in that tree, and she really didn't want to leave them there.
"Name is Kaela, by the way," she said.
After testing a few vines, she found the right one, and pulled on it. Her leather satchel and her bow fell out of the tree, and she caught them. She slung the bow behind her back.
Kaela couldnt stop glancing quickly at the creature's eyes. They were beautiful.
"You're sure you haven't seen any bounty hunt—I mean people around?" Kaela asked.

[Rhindeer]

...Dragon claws?!

And the human said it so casually! Like it was a normal thing to get mauled by a dragon, much less encounter one in the first place. Either she was telling the truth or messing with her; surely it had to be the latter, or maybe 'dragon claws' was just the name of some human weapon?

Raxta watched her wrap her wound, trying unsuccessfully to puzzle out the meaning of her words, when the woman asked a question that made her brow crinkle. What was she?

What kind of question was that!

She let out a surprised laugh. "You can't tell by looking?" she asked, amusement in her voice. "Jaguar-kin, obviously. I go by Raxta."

Taking a step closer to the woman, ears perked, she squinted at this Kaela. Her wounds, her skittish behavior, her mention of a dragon, her repeating the question as to whether she'd seen other humans. It was a bit fishy, to say the least. Raxta didn't care what humans did in their own lands, but she did care when it happened in her territory. She had even cut the woman slack for releasing her, despite it being the woman's own trap.

"Should I have seen others like you? You seem nervous—but perhaps that is blood loss, too. Is there something you want to tell me, Kaela? Like what you were doing hunting in my territory?"

[wandering_giraffe]

"Raxta. That's a good name. I asked what you were because I didn't want to assume," Kaela explained.
She cautiously felt the bandaged wound and winced. There must have been some sort of venom on those dragon claws, because it shouldn't be hurting like this still. Kaela glanced up at Raxta's question.
"Well for one thing I didn't know all of this," she gestured around her, "was your territory. Plus how else am I supposed to eat? I have to eat somehow. But I do apologize for encroaching on your territory. That was not my intention."
She went back to inspecting her wound, carefully taking the bandage off. Oh there was definitely venom on those claws. There were streaks of green going up her skin, away from the wound. At least it had stopped bleeding. Her face paled alittle. She tried to think where she had last even seen a path of any sort, much less a village.
"If it's any help, I didn't kill a dragon in your territory, unless Adela counts," She shrugged. A hand involuntarily went to her side again. Gods she's got to find a healer soon. And food. Kaela sighed. It was getting dark, she'd have to wait until morning.

[Rhindeer]

Raxta closed her eyes and let out a slow, silent breath. It was true, this woman was ignorant of her peoples' ways; how would she know this was her territory? Though, technically, that was a lie--it was her territory, past tense. It was her clan's territory still, but she was no longer part of them. She wasn't even supposed to be here at all, but she had slunk back here with her tail between her legs as she tried to come up with a plan, an explanation, a bargain, anything that could convince them to take her back.

How was this human supposed to know any of that, though? And she was hurting--worse than hurting. As Kaela pulled the bandage off, the smell hit her nose before she even saw the green streaks spreading from the wound. It wasn't just blood she could smell then, but a wrongness. Different from infection, but still...definitely not good.

"I don't really care about dragons," she said, eyes still studying the wound. She chewed on her bottom lip, flashing sharp fangs, her words a little distracted because her mind was racing.

This human wasn't her problem. The human shouldn't even be here in the first place--but she wasn't supposed to be here, either. 

She was clearly up to something fishy with her questions about other people...but Raxta was also guilty, was she not?

Not to mention the trap Raxta had found herself in, but...ugh...she did need to eat and humans had to use other means to catch prey, weak as they were. 

She was in no way obligated to help her. They were square now and that was that.

She should walk away, mind her own business--

Raxta let out a soft, frustrated growl, her tail dancing. "Look, your injury..." She paused, as though still considering her words, then finally just went for it. "I might be able to help with it."

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela, if she was being honest with herself, wasn't sure what she was expecting. But what did Raxta mean she might be able to help? Was she a healer? But she said she didn't know any...she cautiously reclined against a tree, then clumsily sunk into a sitting position, wincing as she hit the ground.
"Thank you," she quietly said.
"I don't have much to offer you in return," she took a rough breath as the pain intensified, seeming to radiate up her side and across her front.
Kaela closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on her breathing and not the pain. She couldn't understand why the poison was only just now becoming a problem. She had gone to a "healer" and they had given her a clean bill of health. Or so she thought.

At least the moon was out, it's light shining through the trees and casting a soft, scattered glow through the canopy of the jungle.

[Rhindeer]

Raxta only snorted at that. "There's nothing you could offer me that I'd want," she said, though her mind was racing. There was still time to back away and leave this human, let  nature sort her out and do with her what it would. A weak thing like her wouldn't last long on her own as bigger predators than her would be attracted to her staggering about like a wounded, bloody deer.

If that green stuff didn't do her in, first.

With a sigh, she crouched down beside Kaela, squatting on her heels as she looked the woman in the eyes, her own eyes narrowed. "Actually, no, that's not true. You can give me the truth," she said. "You've been awful dodgy. You wanna tell me what's going on with you? if there are other humans about, I need to know."

She paused to let it sink in but didn't really expect answer just yet with the way Kaela was rapidly declining. There was little time to fuss. If she was going to do this, she needed to do it now. There was no point hesitating; the damage was already done, her tribe had already kicked her out, so may as well go all in.

"Think on it. In the meantime--" She held up a finger, a claw springing out, "--brace yourself. What I'm gonna do is gonna hurt, but I need you to stay still. I'm gonna reopen the wound and, uh..." She shrugged uncomfortably. "I guess try to get the green stuff out."

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela closed her eyes. If she closed her eyes, maybe she could pretend the pain wasn't there. Just breathe. Hyperventilating wouldn't help anybody, she told herself.
At Rhaxta's question, she visibly winced, opening her eyes.
"I was offered a huge amount to kill a dragon in Adela. I got sloppy, the authorities found out, and I vanished." She paused. Talking was painful.
"I think...I think I had two bounty hunters after me a week ago."
Kaela averted her eyes. Looking into Rhaxta's eyes was making her feel things. 
At Rhaxta's warning, Kaela merely nodded. She was trying to take slow, deep breaths, but her lungs weren't cooperating.
"I'll try to stay still," she managed to get out, gritting her teeth and clenching her hands into fists.

[Rhindeer]

Raxta didn't quite understand everything Kaela said. She wasn't sure what Adela was, but gleaned that it was a place. Kaela wasn't the first human she had encountered, either; her people had once had regular contact with outsiders--before everything went wrong and ties were quickly severed. It was how she knew Common, even though it wasn't her native tongue. It had been helpful years ago, but now it was no longer being actively taught.

Lucky Kaela.

Lucky Kaela, indeed, since what Raxta was about to do was entirely experimental.

"Hmm...then you have made a habit of hunting in the territory of others, I take it?" She snorted, shaking her head. "Alright, enough talking for now. Here I go..."

That was the only warning she gave Kaela before she drew her claw over her wound in one quick, precise swipe. Blood blossomed from the wound and Raxta caught some in her palm, brought it to her lips...and tasted it. Just a quick swipe of her tongue, enough to take in some of the woman's essence but not enough to harm herself on the toxins. That was all she needed to forge the connection. All she needed to take control of Kaela's blood.

The blood suddenly stopped dripping to the ground as instead, Raxta held it suspended in the air. Okay, what was she doing now exactly? She needed to draw the venom out somehow, separate it from the blood. She had ideas, but no idea if it would actually work--but hey, an idea was better than doing nothing at all, right? Pulling the blood from the wound, she let it flow in a loop back into the wound at a higher point, cycling it in and out, feeling along their connection for what didn't belong until--ah, there. Feeling that sense of wrongness, she chased after it, and soon dark splashes of green began to drip onto the soil as the toxin separated from the blood.

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela waited for the pain to come. And when it did, she jumped alittle. The pain intensified, so she just focused on breathing.
And then the pain got so bad she just flat out wanted to die. She was a seasoned hunter, she's been injured in practically every way possible. But this...the pain was weird. Her vision faded to nothing. Almost as if she just...didn't have eyes. Her vision didn't go black it just...didn't exist. For the time being anyway. The pain was almost as if someone was drawing the very essence out of Kaela, which Raxta practically was. It was akin to if the blood of a person turned to fire. That was the best she could explain it. Kaela really didn't want to pass out, she felt she wouldn't come back. So she focused on the pain. Which did two things. One, it made her stay awake, but two it made the pain feel worse. It was a double edged sword, but one Kaela was willing to grasp most willingly.

Time seemed to blur together, both feeling like an eternity and a second all at the same time.
The pain slowly started to subside, and Kaela fell into a mostly peaceful sleep.

[Rhindeer]

Kaela passed out.

For one brief, wild moment, Raxta thought she'd killed her. It was her first time doing anything quite like this and she was going purely off instinct, so what if she had done it wrong? What if it was too much too fast and had shocked the human's body? But no, her chest was still moving and she could feel the throb of a pulse in her blood, and despite herself, Raxta let a relieved breath out through her nose.

Not that she cared, of course!

As it turned out, it was a small mercy, really, as it meant Raxta could work in peace while Kaela got to escape the agony. So in the end they both won, right?

Yet when Kaela's blood ran clean, and Raxta bade the blood to clot around the wound, she found herself left in an unexpected predicament:

What was she supposed to do with the human now?

"Uhhh...hello...?" Lightly, she pat Kaela on the cheek, brushing some of that unruly black hair away from her face, and when she got no response, she grimaced. Girl was out. So did she just...leave her here now or...?

Raxta stared down at her, tail swishing and ears back. This...was definitely not how she saw this day going. Well. She had done more than enough here. The girl wouldn't die of venom—

But if she left her like this, there was no guarantee something bigger wouldn't snack on her.

Not my problem, she told herself. They were more than square now. The girl had survived a dragon! She would be fine!

...Then why did it feel like she would be abandoning a kitten if she left her?

With a frustrated growl, Raxta scooped the woman up and tossed her over her shoulder. Kaela might be taller, but Raxta was stronger than she looked, and she carried her without much trouble as she made her way back to her temporary dwelling. It wasn't much, just a cozy den that some large animal had dug into the earth between the massive roots of an old tree, but it was a shelter and there was room enough for two.

Inside, Raxta deposited Kaela into her bed, which was a nest of furs. Alright. This was fine. She would let the human recover, make sure she wouldn't just up and die after all that work, and then they could part ways.

What could go wrong?

[wandering_giraffe]

Kaela slept for two days.
It was a peaceful, needed sleep...for the most part. The last half of the last day she dreamed. Strange, inky, cloudy dreams, everything tinged in black and a strange, ominous presence in the back of every dream, watching...waiting...waiting for what Kaela couldn't figure out. She'd fight her way through various dragons and hostile forces, make it to this phantom...and the phantom would disappear, a skeletal hand tauntingly waving at her as his figure faded, his leering, abysmal grin, seeming to have eyes of its own as it faded away too.
And that's why, when Kaela awoke, she woke up in a cold sweat, breathing hard and sitting upright quickly. Too quickly, for as soon as she sat up her head screamed at her in protest and she fell weakly back onto the bed.
Wait...onto a bed...when she passed out she was on the jungle ground...what the fuck is going on? Her eyes adjusted rather slowly to the darkness. Or as well as they could anyways. She could still hear the chirp of the birds in the distance, so they must be in the jungle still. She cautiously looked around, still rather anxious from the strange onslaught of dreams she had.
Did Raxta leave her? Did someone else kidnap her? A million thoughts raced through her head. She better get up and get out of...wherever she was. She seemed to be underground or something. But the air still seemed rather fresh, albeit slightly damp. She tried to get out of bed and her body refused. Great. She was weak, and had no idea where she was. And she was starving.
"R-Raxta?" Her voice sounded just as scared as she felt.