Sheeeeeep [Rhi!]

Tally · August 22, 2012, 12:21:26 AM

Raziya faced a moral dilemma. These sheep were clearly lost, wandering about alone like this over the green hills. Yet they also clearly belonged to someone. They didn't seem to mind his presence as he crouched nearby, half on the verge of pouncing on one of them. It was near entrancing, watching these docile prey animals mill about right in front of him, utterly vulnerable and utterly unaware of it.

They were practically begging him to eat them!

Rhindeer · August 29, 2012, 02:30:44 AM

The sheep knew no better, having never encountered a creature like that before. Bleating mildly as they milled about, tails flicking as they grazed grass or lay grouped together chewing their cud, they were oblivious to the danger.

Fable wasn't.

The large, shaggy sheepdog, curled up next to two sheep and blending with the herd almost seamlessly, picked up the predator's scent and exploded into action. Breaking off from the herd and barking loudly, she raced toward the creature, even as the sheep startled and began to bleat their alarm, frightened and confused but not sure where to go or where the danger was.

Tessa, sprawled on her back in the high grass, had been nodding off when the commotion jerked her to wakefulness. With a gasp, she scrambled to her feet and scooped up her crook, grass sticking out of her hair. What in Ansgar's name...?

That was when she saw the cat, huge and black, larger even than Fable--though Fable, fearless as ever, didn't seem to realize that.

Tally · August 29, 2012, 04:35:47 PM

Tch. A dog. Stupid, dramatic creatures. He should have stopped to think! There was always a sheep dog, wasn't there?

Razi raised up onto his hind legs, and by the time he'd reached full height, he was a man again. Naked, arms crossed, and fixing a hard stare on the dog as it charged. It faltered, confused, and scrambled to a halt. There it stayed, barking at him and looking between him and its master, a girl that Razi hadn't seen either. Bah, the sheep had made him foolhardy!

"Woman! Call your beast!"

Rhindeer · August 29, 2012, 11:57:37 PM

What.

Tessa stared, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, as the cat stood up and became a man. So stunned was she by the sight that she didn't even realize he was naked for several moments, mind struggling to accept what her eyes had clearly seen and running through every possible rational explanation for it but finding none. The cat had turned into a man. He talked. He spoke.

He was naked.

The blood rushed to Tessa's cheeks and clear down her neck and she jerked her eyes up to his face with a squeak and nearly dropped her crook. She'd never seen a fully grown naked man before and...and...now she just knew she wasn't crazy. Somehow that was what made everything make sense, because of course he wouldn't have clothes if he'd shifted and dear Ansgar what was going on right now and why did she even wake up.

One thing she did know, however, was that this was a shapeshifter and a stranger, and one that had been eying her sheep, at that. Still fighting to keep her eyes from straying to places they shouldn't be, she shook her head and put some steel into her spine. "Give me a reason why I should! You were gonna eat my sheep!"

Tally · September 01, 2012, 03:46:07 AM

Agh! That damn dog's barking! If it didn't shut up, Razi really was going to kill something!

"I was not! I was only looking at them!" His tail picked up an irritated, back-and-forth lashing. The dog went on baying right at him. "How would you know anyway? You cannot see into my thoughts. Now call him away!"

If the girl ordered her dog on him, this would become ugly for all three of them. He would kill the dog, but not before it tore him up well enough—shifting shapes always took a few moments, and he was vulnerable in the doing. Then he would be injured and stuck up here with a girl who meant him harm, and he doubted he'd be able to hold himself in check from killing her as well.

He supposed he must be...nice, if the lot of them were to leave this meeting well and whole.

Rhindeer · September 02, 2012, 10:18:36 PM

Tessa stood her ground, holding her crook like she were holding a sword she had every intention of swinging. Only looking! She didn't believe that for a second! Why would he be skulking about like that if he meant no harm? And yet...what did she intend to do now? He had changed, he was caught, and she had him cornered and vulnerable. And though she'd set her dog on animals that had threatened them, she'd never actually set her on a person. She'd seen how Fable had handled lone wolves and foxes, tearing them up and even killing them, in the case of the fox.

Could she do that to a man?

A man that was, regardless of his previous intentions or lack thereof, calling for peace?

Her shoulders relaxed and she lowered the crook. "Very well." She put her fingers to her mouth and whistled. "Fable! Fable, leave it! Come!"

With a low growl, Fable returned to her side though she still watched the man warily as Tessa rubbed her shaggy head. Likewise, Tessa didn't take her eyes off of him.

"What are you doing here?"

Tally · September 02, 2012, 10:55:43 PM

He oughtn't to blame the girl for her caution he supposed, but that didn't make it any bloody easier to stand there and take the indignity of a dog barking in his face. Idiot creatures, they were. He didn't hold with their kind as a rule, and took it as a matter of pride that he didn't let them threaten him. This one was just damn lucky it belonged to a human.

He sighed into the soothing silence when she finally called the dog away. Much better. He could hear himself think again!

"I already told you, I was looking at your sheep." Razi scratched his head and looked about in the grass. His loincloth had to be around here somewhere.

Rhindeer · September 04, 2012, 04:52:06 PM

Tessa heaved a sigh. She could see that she was going to get nowhere with this line of questioning.

So she decided to focus on the next most pressing concern: the fact that he was naked.

She flushed and cleared her throat, turning her head away. "In any case, you should dress. We can continue this discussion once you're decent again." Way too distracting, way too inappropriate, and her eyes kept wanting to wander.

Tally · September 04, 2012, 09:33:48 PM

"Nn. I'm working on it. I have a cloth about here somewhere."

Razi dropped down to all fours and crawled about. He'd come up the rise from the east, hidden around those rocks there before he'd realized the sheep weren't going to run from him, then crept forward right into their midst. He just couldn't remember where he'd shifted.

"Ah!" There it was. Razi snatched it up and stood to tie it about his narrow hips with a loose knot. It was a simple thing, just a scrap of cloth in front and behind. "There. Better?"

Rhindeer · September 04, 2012, 11:46:39 PM

Tessa groaned and put her hand over her eyes as the cat-man got down on all fours and crawled around. It was both a ridiculously humorous sight--and flat-out horrifying. He was a man! Not an animal! Er. Mostly man. Oh, Ansgar, nothing made sense anymore and she wasn't fully certain how she was supposed to react to all this. Wasn't everyday a cat turned into a naked person.

She kept her eyes shut until he spoke up again, and she lowered her hand slowly. And gaped.

"Th-that's not clothing!"

Tally · September 05, 2012, 12:02:53 AM

"What are you talking about?" Razi looked down at himself. "I'm wearing it. It's clothing."

Rhindeer · September 05, 2012, 12:17:30 AM

Tessa shook her head vigorously. "I'm not sure what it is, but I'm certain it's not clothing!"

Tally · September 05, 2012, 12:33:26 AM

"It's cloth and I'm wearing it! That makes it clothing! If it's not clothing then what is it?" The sheepdog was getting distressed with them arguing, but dammit the girl wasn't making any sense!

Rhindeer · September 05, 2012, 12:34:43 AM

"It's a rag!" Tessa shot back, hands on her hips. "You can wear rags! That doesn't make it clothing!"

Tally · September 05, 2012, 01:17:49 AM

Razi stomped his foot. "It being a rag doesn't make it not clothes! It is a rag that I am wearing as clothes!"

Rhindeer · September 05, 2012, 01:20:11 AM

"It's smallclothes," Tessa said with a huff. "It's what you wear under your clothes! Real clothes covers your whole body, and that? That is just indecent. You can't walk around like that!"

Tally · September 05, 2012, 01:25:56 AM

"You just said it! Smallclothes! It's right there in the name!"

Ha! He had the girl there. Couldn't argue with that. "Besides, it's all I have."

Rhindeer · September 05, 2012, 01:35:17 AM

"I--no! It's like...it's like wearing a shirt but not wearing britches! Just because you're wearing one thing doesn't mean it's complete or appropriate!" Tessa said, rubbing her head. It was so obvious, so simple, and yet somehow he kept finding holes in her argument and twisting it all around so it just sounded stupid.

"If a strong wind comes, you'll show everything. You need...you need something better."

For her own comfort at least.

Backing away from him to keep him in her sight, she stopped by her traveling gear and unrolled her blanket. She held it out to him. "Wear this."

Tally · September 05, 2012, 01:42:51 AM

"I never said it was complete or appropriate! I just said it was clothes!"

She was right about the wind, but so what? If he turned to the side, she'd see enough of him as well. He'd had more clothes at some point, but they'd all been lost or torn to shreds. He couldn't keep up with the things.

"What have you got there." He stood on his toes, ears pricked up, to watch her curiously. She produced a blanket for him. Hmph. Now that wasn't clothes.

Razi's ears flicked as he stared at the thing. She was a human, but what harm could a blanket do? It was one simple offering. He crossed over to her and took it at arms length. He tried tying it about his waist like a skirt.

Rhindeer · September 07, 2012, 01:14:40 AM

Tessa covered her mouth to muffle a sudden laugh. That would just be rude! Especially after she'd been the one to offer it to him, and especially considering there wasn't much else he could make with a blanket in a pinch. But...it wasn't her fault if it still looked horribly ridiculous, right? Laughter wasn't a sin!

"That's...better," she finally said, going for something neutral. At least all the bits she was afraid of him flashing were taken care of! "That'll do." She cleared her throat, though her lips still kept wanting to twitch into a grin.

This whole situation was beyond ridiculous and she was still processing it and yet, despite the weirdness, some small part of her was glad for this break in the monotony that was her life. She knew she should probably be scared, should probably be on guard, should probably be trying to avoid the strange, fearsome, naked shapeshifter-man that had been eying her sheep like meat, and yet she felt strangely unafraid.