Watching and waiting (goldie)

Nahashsan · January 02, 2024, 04:33:39 PM

Every time the wind gusted it kicked up clouds of powered snow which glistened in the morning light. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't so dang cold or so Nykole thought.

She stood watch with her ever present companion Lucius while the rest of the party broke camp oand loaded the sleds. She scanned the horizon looking for anything out of the ordinary. What the might be, she didn't know. Her employer was sparse on the details. Get the four sleds to a certain hot spring and get paid big money. They never said what she was protecting them from but there was six guards on the job so there had to be a threat out there.

She took a sip from the steaming mug of tea in her hand as see turned to watch the last of the supplies being loaded. She was bundled up in layers of furs which her thin elven body. Pulling her hood tight, she muttered to herself, elves are not meant for the cold

Goldie · January 03, 2024, 05:53:39 PM

Aikaterini hated the cold. But what she hated even more was the human skin she was forced to wear for this job. Not that this particular skin was worse than others it was just that it was human, and humans were fragile awful creatures with an affinity for dying in harsh conditions. She could easily just be a polar bear and then be done with it.

But that wasn't what they were paying her for. She was getting triple the average pay for this job because of who she was able to become. And so the average sized Kat appeared to be a burly middle aged man with the attitude of sour milk. Look intimidating. Discipline anyone who so much as asks questions.

She was, as far as anyone else knew, their employers right hand man. Everyone else was expendable.

"Oi! You!" Her deep, gravelly man voice shook mountains as she approached the tea drinking elf, "Carry your weight or go the hell back to your other pointy friends."

She liked being mean. Most people deserved it.

Nahashsan · January 04, 2024, 12:27:15 PM

"Oi you" she mimicked back " I'm on watch, so I'm watching if you have a problem take it up with the boss you big lump of meat." She remarked.

Just then a deep voice echoed in her head "filter Nikki you don't need a fight" her companion Lucius chimed in.

The signal was given for the sleds to move out. Nykole turned the the bossy grunt " looks like it's time for you to do your job." Not waiting for a response she turned and fell in behind the last sled as they started across the tundra.

Goldie · January 05, 2024, 10:45:05 AM

Kat drew herself up to the extent of the height this skin allowed - which was impressive at over six feet. She knew her job and played it well.

"Don't test me elf." She growled, taking an aggressive step forward, "If you knew your job you would know who I am and know your place. Now I asked you to take your scrawny limbs and get your ass over to assist the final loading process. Now."

She thought about smacking the tea from her hands but...maybe not yet. Best not waste all of her cards.

Damnit it was cold. Even in all the furs and the skin's copious layers of fat she felt the chill in her bones. She wanted it to be time to camp. She wanted to shed this man and don the waiting polar bear within in her own private tent.

Nahashsan · January 05, 2024, 12:03:47 PM

Kykole was about to suggest that they go talk to Lady Juliette because the only person telling what to do was one that was paying her, but they were cut off as the sled moved out.

For miles and miles they trudged across the tundra. The wind whipping at their clothes. The sun blind them as it reflected off the snow. For the longest time, everything was flat as far as the eye could see. Slowly a number of small mounds came into view. On closer inspection there was a dozen in all.

As the small band passed by the mounds exploded upwards and strange beast arose from within. They were part man and part bear. The warebears set upon the party with a fury. The two guards at the front rushed forward and were overwhelmed nearly instantly.

The raindeer pulling the sleds paniced and bolted in all directions. One of them flipped over while the others raced away. Half the warebears gave chase which left six to deal with.

Goldie · January 06, 2024, 05:09:24 PM

It was long, it was treacherous, and Kat was starting to regret yelling at the elf. She should have realized the wisdom of a warm drink in this weather, but she hadn't thought much past her own annoyance at having to become the big baffoon. Even now she shuddered beneath layers of fat and furs as the caravan continued.

It was getting dangerously close to her shifting threshold, and if there was one thing Aikaterini didn't mess with it was that. And she wasn't about to let herself actually become this Elarick guy.

But she couldn't stop the caravan either.

It didn't need to be long, but it needed to happen...she she found a moment to murmur about taking a piss and catching up, before taking one of the poor animals and disappearing over a ridge.

With a shudder she began the process. All said and done it wouldn't be more than five minutes from leaving to when she returned. Albeit making things speedy did cause some pretty terrible pains, but nothing could be done about that now. She stripped down to her birthday suit and then fat gave way to muscle, bones cracked as they shrunk, and the skin she was wearing slipped from her figure in a steaming pile of...discard. She didn't know what else to call it. It wasn't pretty, but it was necessary.

And then the cold hit. But only for a few moments. Discarding a skin was far messier than donning one, so she quickly pulled the too-big furs back on her and started the donning process. 30 seconds later, she was once again Elarick and was already on her way back when she saw reindeer running.

Oh no.

No no no no no.

She had only been gone a few minutes.

Urged her animal on and soon saw exactly what the problem was...were bears. Big, ugly, half-human hybrids that were a mockery to her real transformative abilities. And they were angry. Members of the party were already lying in bloody heaps as the monsters feasted on their flesh.

Gods no...she couldn't do anything in this skin!

So she stripped down again, a big fat naked Elarick, and shed his skin again until it was just her for a few seconds before white fur sprung from her skin. This was who she was. This was her true form - at least according to her, genetics be dammed.

And she lunged and took down one of the six remaining mutants, her teeth filling with blood as she clamped down on its neck.

Euphoric.

Nahashsan · January 07, 2024, 10:12:08 AM

It all happened so quickly. One minute it was monotonous boredom, the next all hell had broken loose. She grabbed glaive and charged the nearest warebear. Lucius beside her readied the barb on his head tail.

Nykole rushed in and stabbed at the beast which dodged with surprising agility. Focused on the elf, the beast didn't see Lucius come up from behind until it was to late. Three stings in quick succession and the warebear started to convulse uncontrollable. Now an easy target Nykole finished it off with a stab in the heart.

Goldie · January 08, 2024, 04:45:00 PM

Her white fur was stained read around her paws and her muzzle and dripped down her chest, but she didn't have time to worry about any of that as she moved from one of the hybrids to the next. This one was actively tearing through another poor hired hand, but that also meant he was distracted and didn't see the polar bear falling from the skies to sweep deadly claws across his back.

He let out a roar and lunged back, catching one of Kay's hindquarters with his teeth. Nothing too terrible, but it burned like fire and sent a roar ripping through her mouth. Then she was attacking back and it wasn't too much longer before she brought him down, too.

Was anyone else alive? The place was a blood bath.

There.

Of course. The damn elf.

Nahashsan · January 09, 2024, 03:38:24 PM

Nykole pull her glaive free as a beast slumped to the ground. Bleeding in the snow the dead warebear slowly shifted back into the form of a man.

Nykole barely had time to register that these creatures were men before another one came her way. Charging blindly at her the beast was easy to dodge with a roll to the side. Coming out of the roll on one knee she struck out with her blade and took be warebears head off its shoulders.

As quickly as it started, it was all over. Surveying the gore covered battle ground she spotted the polar bear with the last of the enemies in its maws. Not sure what to think she turned to Lucius who could talk to animals. "Ask the bear why it helps to fight."

Lucius took a few steps forward and his deep voice echoed in the bears head "what cause do you have to fight these men?" He asked.

Goldie · January 09, 2024, 07:05:23 PM

Kat flinched visibly when the other creature's voice echoed in her head. She'd never had something like that happen before and it felt intrusive. Like there was an interloper in her brain.

And she didn't know how to answer him. She wasn't psychic. She couldn't talk to people without a human voice and right now the only response she could give was a deep rumble in her throat. If he could read her thoughts it would just be an odd hodge hodge of their journey across the snow, of skin colored goop against ice, and pain. Physical and mental pain, but they all combined into one average sized girl.

But she couldn't just stay here like this. They could very well turn on her and this could all be over faster than it started.

Curses sang through her head as she started the process of shedding the skin. Big pieces of pelt melted off of her section by second until only she remained in human form, shivering in the snow, with a decent sized gash from her hip to her knee from where she'd been hit during the fight.

It was so cold that even as it ooze it frozen against her bare skin as she shivered.

"I was hired." She stuttered, wrapping her hands around herself. She already couldn't feel her feet, "Like you."

Nahashsan · January 10, 2024, 04:19:40 PM

Lucius was confused when he didn't get a reply back. He was even more confused when the bear started to change into a human female. He spoke to Nykole. "She is also some sort of skin changer," he remarked.

Now it was Nykole's turn to be confused. "There was only one other lady on this trek and that was lady Juliette so who are you?" She ask as she approached the naked lady. "Do we need to find you some clothes " she asked.

Goldie · January 11, 2024, 07:12:55 PM

"Elarick." She wrapped her hands around herself tighter as her chattering teeth almost made it impossible to speak words. "I was hired to be Elarick."

She didn't want to ask for help, she didn't want to be indebted to anyone, least of all some forest pixie and her pet. But her lips were already blue - it was the tundra after all and humans were so terribly fragile.

But she also couldn't talk to them as a bear and she needed them to not kill her. So she stood there. Defiantly. Until the tremors became too much and her legs gave way beneath her.

Nahashsan · January 11, 2024, 09:17:55 PM

"I find it hard to believe that you were, are that ugly bastard" she said as she closed the distance between them. She looked around trying to find something to give the naked lady. The warebears had no clothes and the other hired hand were mangled messes.

She didn't like Elarick or whatever their true name was but she also wasn't going to let them freeze to death.

With a sigh she pulled off her own cloak and gave it to her. "Take this for now, I'm going to go salvage more gear". She moved to the first sell sword and took his boots which were the only thing not shredded. They were much to big but beggars can't be choosers.

At the sled she pulled off the heavy leather tarp that covered everything. Under the covers there were a few tents a little dried food and several creates of empty bottles that lady Juliette had planned to feel at the hot spring. What she didn't find was more clothes.

She returned with the boots and trap. " this was the best I could find. There was a few tents and some food on sled so we can make it a few days out here."

Goldie · January 12, 2024, 05:22:01 AM

Kat shivered, quickly feeling her weak, useless human appendages go from burning to numb, and now that her legs were planted in the snow, they were quickly following suit.

Shift. She told herself angrily. But she felt she was stuck between two kinds of deaths: death by cold or death by blade.

"Then you don't have much of an imagination." She snapped back, but those were the last words she found herself able to utter. Her hands were placed firmly beneath her armpits and the exhaustion brought by the cold was making her head fuzzy.

Which is probably why she didn't just shift and run - which would have been the smart thing to do. Instead, she pulled the offered cloak around herself, grateful to at least no longer feel the bite of the wind.

Then came the leather tarp, which would do very little.

"I...can't...stay...like...this..." she gasped, survival finally taking over. Thankfully she had touched a number of arctic animals before starting the journey for this exact reason. Her skin began to turn black, gray, white, and she shrunk down to a quarter of her size beneath the tarp. It would take less time to warm-up the smaller she was.

And once a tiny arctic penguin had replaced the human woman, she curled herself into a shivering ball within the tarp and prayed it wasn't too late to save her limbs.

Nahashsan · January 13, 2024, 07:44:24 AM

'Then you don't have much of an imagination'

There was the meanest she had grow to expect from Elarick. Here she was trying to help and all she got back was a attitude.

Nykole watched and they morphed into a bizarre creature. It looked like a bird but had flippers for wings. " Lucius, you ever see something like this" she ask her companion. He just shaked his head no.

Seeing her cloak now laying on the ground she bend down an picked it up. "So what do we do now?" She ask knowing the penguin could not respond.

Lucius spoke up "just focus on me and think what you want to say. I should be able to hear you"

Goldie · January 13, 2024, 08:14:23 AM

C...cold... she thought towards the elf's pet. She knew he wasn't actually a pet and she was even offending herself a bit for not being able to fix the mental distinction, but she was so cold that even basic brain function was difficult.

Hate...hate the cold...hate this job... she curled up even tighter in her tiny penguin body beneath the tarp and was embarrassed as little squeaks of distress left her.

They were going to die here. They were so far from civilization and exposed to the elements. She should have turned this job down. She should have gone back to the woods after Yurim...after...

She continued to shiver and pushed those memories to their box deep inside her mind.

Nahashsan · January 13, 2024, 11:30:06 AM

"We can't stay here. The only two options are go after the other sleds and try and rescue lady Juliette which is probably mute at this point, or we can head towards the hot springs. From what I have heard they are visited fairly often so vote we head there and hope we meet up with other travelers." She addressed the little bird.

Nykole needed to stay moving or the cold wind got to her. Not expecting a reply she headed back to the sled and started to dump all the creates of bottles and some of the extra gear. They didn't need five tents for three people after all.

Goldie · January 13, 2024, 11:50:46 AM

Being a penguin under a tarp made things go fast by way of warming up. The heat from her body and breath billowed around her and soon she found herself able to function again. First she wiggled her flippered feet, then her arms, and eventually wiggled her way out to waddle around the snow.

She was exhausted, but knew she'd have to suck it up if they wanted to survive. Without clothes she wouldn't want to be a human - hell, even with clothes she didn't like being human - but...they were a long way from civilization and the right thing to do would be to offer help.

Can you hear me? she tried to project her thoughts outwardly and hope that maybe the other one could hear her. I can...I guess I could be a bear again and...the elf can ride me...

Blegh. That was gross to say.

Nahashsan · January 13, 2024, 01:51:36 PM

"Can you pull the sled, it has food and supplies on it that we can use. Also what happened to the clothes you were wearing as Elarick?" Lucius ask back

By this time Kykole was done stripping the sled down to the essentials and was pushing it back to the group. Looking at the penguin out in the open she remarked " I see that you are doing better"

Goldie · January 13, 2024, 04:46:37 PM

Ok...Kat responded. She didn't like being a mule, but having the supplies would definitely be important for survival.

I don't know where his clothes are...somewhere back that way. She waved a flipper to their east. Saw the animals running and the abominations chasing and reacted. Went bear.

She chewed on her lip...or...beak for a moment before, begrudgingly, said, Tell the elf thank you?