Sheeeeeep [Rhi!]

Tally · September 08, 2012, 10:54:40 PM

Putting that blanket about his waist calmed the girl down immediately. Imagine! That kind of worry over nakedness!

"I don't know why it bothers you all so much to see a naked thing. I mean, I know it does. I've lived in cities before and seen you lot get riled over a bit of skin. But nobody ever could explain the why of it well enough."

All the while he talked, he tried to keep his eyes on her for the sake of manners, but the sheep had taken to milling about and coming close again, and he couldn't stop his gaze from drifting over to them.

Rhindeer · September 10, 2012, 10:02:00 PM

"It's just not proper," Tessa said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. She brushed bangs from her face and reached down to rub Fable's ears. "That sort of thing should be saved for your wedding night."

Tally · September 10, 2012, 10:05:21 PM

He didn't even bother trying to look at the girl anymore. He stared openly at the sheep and tried to catch on of them in the eye just to see if they would even recognize him as something they should care about, be wary about.

"Hah! Don't get me started on weddings and marriages and that nonsense."

Rhindeer · September 12, 2012, 07:49:17 PM

"What? What's 'nonsense' about marriage--what are you doing?"

Tessa followed the shifter's gaze to her sheep and lifted her eyebrows, propping one hand on her hip. "Something you're looking for?"

Tally · September 12, 2012, 08:21:35 PM

The sheep were so funny the way they plodded about with that great woolly mass of a body bobbing upon their skinny legs.

"No," he muttered absently. He sank down into a crouch since he didn't intend on going anywhere anytime soon. "Do you call them things? Do they have names?"

Rhindeer · September 13, 2012, 11:33:54 AM

"Huh?" Tessa tilted her head at the question, then laughed. "Well...actually, yes."

No one had ever asked her that, and she'd never admitted to it. They were just sheep, after all, and it seemed silly to name them. But it got lonely sometimes, so she ended up giving them names and having idle conversations with them along their travels, even making up stories to tell them. Of course they didn't understand and she doubted they even listened, but it was for her own benefit. Sometimes, when it was dark and scary, you just needed to hear a voice, even if it was your own, and make believe that someone cared enough to listen, even if they were a sheep or a dog.

She rubbed the back of her neck. "It's...kinda dumb, I know..."

Tally · September 16, 2012, 02:52:35 PM

Razi tore his attention away from the sheep to stare at her. He didn't get it; she wasn't making sense again. "Why?"

A shadow passed over the hill—huge, fast, but when Razi jerked his eyes up, he didn't see anything. Too many trees around here, too many places in the sky for a flier to hide. That had been too fast to be a cloud, and apparently the dog thought so too, because it ran out to pull the sheep in close.

Rhindeer · September 17, 2012, 09:04:30 PM

"Why what?" Tessa tilted her head curiously. "Why I name them? Or why it's--"

She cut off when the shadow passed over and from the looks of it, it wasn't just she that noticed. The shifter seemed to have noticed, too, and Fable as well, and Tessa felt her heart leap. Fable didn't act that way unless she felt there was a problem and she trusted that dog's senses; animals could often see, hear, and feel things people could not.

And here they were, out in an open field. It was prime grazing territory and perfect for keeping an eye out for land predators, but she hadn't even considered the danger from above. There were just enough trees to shelter a predator like that, but too few to offer them any decent protection.

"Oh God. Ah, it was very nice to meet you! We have to go now! Fable!"

Hefting her crook, she motioned to Fable, who was working on herding the sheep together and tightening the group. There weren't many places to go, but there was a copse not far off and it was something. Maybe that had been nothing, but Tessa had heard of dragons from Adela crossing over the mountains and attacking peoples' flocks; she was not about to take chances here.

Tally · September 18, 2012, 02:16:08 AM

Razi kept his eyes looking up, scanning about. The thing revealed itself, game swooping about from behind a hill, flying low. It passed right over them, close enough to make even Razi flinch downward. It was a great, brown bird with a body the size of an horse and a wingspan as wide as a small house. A roc.

"That's—"

The girl was already on the move, and the sheep with her. Razi trotted after them and caught up, keeping half his attention on the hunter in the skies.

"You'd best hurry. It's coming back around."

Rhindeer · October 03, 2012, 01:20:18 PM

The creature revealed itself, and Tessa's breath caught in her throat. That was no dragon--but it may as well have been. A giant bird, with large talons that caught the light and glinted ominously. A giant bird big enough to decimate her entire flock if it desired, flying low enough now that she could feel the wind from its wings...

Wolves were one thing; the creatures were scared easily enough. But that? Whatever it was? She had never dealt with a sky-predator.

Then the shifter was there, close on her heels, and Tessa shot him a look bordering on panic. "I am hurrying! What is that?"

Tally · January 09, 2013, 04:40:40 PM

The bird rose, climbing higher, becoming small against the blue of the sky.

"A roc." Razi didn't let the thing out of his sight. It was as as likely to go for him as anything else out here. "And it's coming."

Even as he watched, the roc folded its wings and fell into a stoop.

Rhindeer · January 20, 2013, 02:07:03 AM

Tessa was about to ask what they should do, since he seemed to know more about this than she did, but then the creature folded and fell like a stone and there was no more time for talk.

And the sheep? Her heart clenched, but there was nothing more to be done. There was no way she knew of to fend against a predator like that. Briefly, she pictured swinging her crook around like a sword at the thing and could have laughed if she weren't so stressed.

"Fable! Leave it!" she shouted, and the dog broke from the herd to join her at her side as she fell into a run. It was either the sheep or, potentially, them—and part of her hoped, prayed, that the sheep would scatter and make the hunt more difficult. It would hurt to lose even one, but not as much as the group.

The roc fell upon them then, the wind of its descent nearly knocking her over and making her stumble, and she turned in time to see it grab up one of the sheep in its talons. The remaining sheep panicked and scattered, bleating frantically, and Tessa forced herself to turn away and keep running.

She didn't stop until she'd made it to the trees.

Tally · February 05, 2013, 01:26:38 PM

The girl looked like she was cutting her losses. Wise of her. That roc could have carried her off just as easily as one of those sheep, and Razi reckoned it didn't much care what it grabbed.

Razi, however, didn't have such notions to worry him. He stayed with the sheep, running along with them. His timing here would have to be exact.

The roc was upon them in a swirl of wind and wing. Its talons closed about a sheep, but Razi had already begun the change. A panther now, he leapt upon the thing's back, claws finding purchase at the junctions of wings and body. The roc thrashed, the sheep went rolling away. Razi bit at it's neck and head, trying to find a place not protected by thick layers of feathers while the bird beat its wings and tried without success to get into the air.

Rhindeer · April 15, 2013, 10:53:59 PM

The roc shrieked in fury and twisted, snapping at the panther with its sharp beak, but it couldn't quite reach him. It beat its wings desperately, trying to strike the panther with them with force enough to break a man's bones. Finally it tried a new tactic, whipping its head forward and rubbing its head and neck along the ground in a desperate attempt to dislodge him.

Dark blood glistened along its feathers where the panthers claws and teeth had found flesh.

From the cover of the trees, Tessa watched it all unfold in breathless horror, mouth open and both hands in Fable's thick fur. The cat was doing well, but the bird was huge, and one wrong move could spell the end of him.

And he was doing this for her.

Actually, she wasn't sure of that, and wasn't sure why he would help her in the first place, but it was nice to think that that's what he was doing.

Tally · January 18, 2014, 03:30:03 AM

Razi got both front paws wrapped around the bird's neck and held on. He didn't care if the bird crushed him to death or broke all the bones in his body. He held on and was not letting for anything.

The roc twisted forward, attempting to throw him, and instead of fighting it he locked his arms and whipped his weight over, flipping them both upon the ground. The roc ended up on top of him but it didn't matter. He had it now. While it tried to right itself, he buried his face into the feathers of its neck and found the knobby column of its spine. His teeth crushed down into it, and the bird's thrashing became the convulsions of death before it finally stilled.

Rhindeer · January 19, 2014, 10:17:51 PM

It wasn't until the bird's thrashing convulsions died down to residual twitching that Tessa dared move from her spot.

Clutching the hem of her tunic in a white-knuckled grip, she edged out from the cover of the trees, only a step or two. Then she waited, eyes on the roc. Was it...dead? Really dead? And what about the cat-man? She couldn't see him beneath the mess of feathers and outstretched wings, and she worried at the fabric of her shirt as she searched for signs that he was okay. He could have gotten crushed beneath the beast's weight, or bitten or clawed during the tussle--it would have been easy for her to have missed that in all the chaos. God, she hoped he was okay...for him to die fighting the thing off for her, after she had treated him with such mistrust...

She stopped a good few feet from the bird, and shifted from foot to foot. "Uhm...are you...are you okay?"

If he was, and was trapped under there, she was pretty sure she wouldn't be much use lifting that thing!

Leaning forward and stretching her arm out as far as it could go, she poked at the bird's body with the tip of her crook. "Hello? Cat man...?"

Tally · May 12, 2014, 11:40:49 PM

The roc ended up squarely on top of him, a mound of flesh and feathers blocking his view of everything beyond. Even after it went still, he clung on, jaws crushing the bones of its neck. Caution served well. He might have waited longer still, but the girl's voice reached him, close by.

Razi released his hold and heaved, rolling the bird off of him easily. Larger than he though it was, he bore far greater weight and strength. Its bones were hollow, its muscles built for the endurance of flight. He was built to haul prey up trees.

As a panther, his eyes were on a level with the girl's—he made for a very large panther indeed. Which...she may not have expected. He sat on his haunches, ears relaxed, in as mild a pose as he could manage lest she become afraid.

Rhindeer · July 01, 2014, 10:41:12 AM

The bird moved, and Tessa jumped back in horror. Maybe it wasn't dead! But then it rolled over, revealing the panther beneath, who sat up and...

"Oh!"

And turned out to be really big this close up.

From a distance, the roc and Razi had looked much smaller, but even sitting he could look into her eyes, and Tessa's breath seized. She clutched the crook to her chest and bit her bottom lip, startled, and quickly averted her gaze, because she knew it was unwise to look a predator in the eye.

Even if they were a shifter?

She'd met one shifter before, a wolf girl, but wasn't sure what the rules were. And the wolf had been small! Razi looked big enough to bite off her head, and even though she had seen him change into this creature, that primal, instinctive fear was there in full force even though he looked totally relaxed.

"A-are you..." She cleared her throat when her voice came out a squeak. "Are you okay?"

Tally · July 30, 2014, 03:48:42 PM

Slowly, so as not to startle, Razi lay down. Speaking involved bearing his rather intimidating fangs, now covered in roc blood. Maybe making himself even smaller would help.

His voice came out whispy, raspy, and deep. With inhuman lips, his words did not enunciate completely. "I am uninjured. How is your sheep?"

Rhindeer · July 30, 2014, 09:10:54 PM

"Oh! You can talk!" Tessa blurted, and then flushed and pressed a hand to her mouth. "Oh, er, of course you can talk, but I mean as an animal! Oh, not that you're an animal, just...um..."

Her voice trailed off and she forced an awkward smile. Now that Razi had spoken, the initial nervousness melted away. Weird as it was, it made him suddenly not dangerous. She crept a little closer, curiosity replacing nerves. "Sorry. You know what I'm trying to say, right? Oh! My sheep are fine. Can't say they would've been if not for you! Thank you, mister...ah..."

Well, this was embarrassing. "Can I ask your name?"