A Kelvic In Any Other Form... (Hadrian)

[Zerren Verre]

A Kelvic In Any Other Form... 45th, Summer of 512 AV Mountain Forest of Zeltiva Zerren, perched in a tall tree, looked down at the city below him. He could see almost everything in the city from within the tree’s leafy embrace, from his home on the border between city and forest, to Anselm’s plain tent in the middle of town, and on to the docks where he had first known freedom. Beyond the docks was the bay, a cold and unforgiving expanse in stark contrast to the warmth and welcome of Zeltiva. Zerren felt tense looking at the waves even from such a great distance; they held only dark memories better left untouched. An eternity of slavery and the death of loved ones, that was all that water was to Zerren. Pain and death and hopelessness and… Zerren shook his head and leapt lithely down from the tree branch, causing the warm glow of Zeltiva and the cold despair of the bay to vanish amongst the mystery of the forest. If ever there was a place that the Gods left unblessed, it was the ocean. Zerren shook himself again, as though attempting to shake the dark thoughts from his mind like the water that made them up and set off through the trees. The beauty of Zeltiva would have to wait for another day when Zerren didn’t need to be hunting for game. I think that I’ll only hunt for my own meals today, I’m running low on provisions at home. Zerren glanced about him as he walked, alert for any signs of an animal moving through the area. Come on, just a track. Any kind of track. Rabbit, boar, dear... Aaaand that's a fresh boot track, fantastic. Zerren had had more perfect hunting trips ruined by errant footfalls than he cared to think about. Of course, he often found that if someone went wandering off the beaten trail, they either had an interesting reason for doing so, or were lost and could be… persuaded into staying out of the forests for a while. Now, do I go find out who this hiker is and what they’re doing? Or do I stick to the plan and get some hunting done today for myself? Zerren sighed and began to follow the clear path before him. One of these days I’m going to actually ignore something interesting just to see if I can.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian liked to walk the flat streets of a city. He even enjoyed the less certain footing of the sand along the beaches sometimes. But it was rare he would hike more difficult terrain without a reason to do so. Today he had one, and though he had not climbed up to the Mirahil Pass and into the Zastoska Mountains, he was up in the foothills where the forest held sway. He came alone, confident in his power to defend himself should the need arise. When he found a spot with high, strong trees whose tops were swaying in the wind, he stopped. His senses were open, of course, but so diffused that he didn't really notice if anyone was watching him; he was only on the alert for danger. After a quick glance around, he began to disrobe, folding and bundling his things and then focusing on them, held there in his two hands. His hands and the bundle of clothes began to glow with virescent power, and suddenly he plunged them into a boulder as if it were made of water. When he retracted his hands, they were empty, and the boulder sparked a few times with excess energy, and then returned to normal. Glancing up the nearest tree for a moment, he seemed to steel himself, then stared at his hands. The old model of Symenestra claws were easy enough, and he wondered where old Vizyous was, who had made him feel almost normal with that wraith-thin, long-limbed shape. These were simple tricks for him now, and required little in the way of energy. With a gust of djed Fluxed into his limbs, he made a quick job of climbing the tree. When he was about as high as he wanted to go without testing his weight against thinner branches, he tucked himself between a pair of sturdy branches and the trunk and then began to really concentrate. He had been working with this model, the lammergeier, almost since he had met Ethan. Though feathers and such were his original focus, on the ship from Avanthal to Mura, he had risked some of his slowly returning reserves to fix the full shape-change into his memory, and there had been some time to practice on the many ships and in the many ports that had followed. Still, it was a full-body morphing, and required more time and concentration, but after a few minutes, he was an overlarge lammergeier with too dark plumage. He sidled out farther down the branch, testing the musculature of his legs, his claws. Of course, he wouldn't attempt to fly without Ethan to instruct him, but he was gaining comfort with the heights and the feel of the air upon him. It was as much a matter of getting used to this form as anything else. Besides, flight would be easier when he was better with the morphing and could more seriously alter his mass.

[Zerren Verre]

Zerren followed the trail slowly and cautiously, he didn’t want to alert whoever it was that he was there when he was still in panther form. It only takes one time of nearly getting shot to learn that people tend to distrust big black cats… However, even moving cautiously, Zerren was rapidly gaining on whoever had made the trail. I should catch up to him any second now… There! Up ahead Zerren could see a naked figure looking up a particularly old and sturdy tree. Wait, naked? Zerren was sure he had been following boot tracks, and a quick glance along the trail showed the man had walked over to a large boulder, boots still on, and then walked over to the tree, barefoot. Where did he put his clothes? Zerren would have liked to investigate further on the subject, but suddenly the man shot up the tree as quickly as Zerren could have managed to on his best day, albeit with much more noise. What in the world? Softly and silently, Zerren leapt up the tree after the man, stopping on a branch a few feet below where the man had stopped. Zerren watched the man intently, fascinated by what he was doing. He’s changing into a bird. What kind of Kelvic changes that slowly? Does it have something to do with being a bird? Or is he sick? Zerren continued to watch as the newly formed, but strangely large, bird started to shift further out on the branch. If he’s sick, I wonder if that would make flying difficult for him. Zerren was looking at the branch as it began to bow under the weight moving further from the tree trunk. Perhaps I should give him a bit of warning, even if it probably won’t break unless he goes stupidly far out… Zerren opened his mouth to give the warning, "GROWRrrrr!" Oh right, still in panther form… Oops.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian had been so focused on his magics that he hadn't noticed the stalking Kelvic, such focus being necessary for the most efficient use of his djed, and he was especially careful not to overgive after his illness on the boat sailing out of Avanthal in the early Spring. The growl right below him made him jerk and sway, his inexpert use of talons scrabbling at the branch, doing damage, wings attempting to grab hold where hands used to be, and he fell, hitting one branch and then another before righting himself and flapping his wings to clumsily slow his fall. Little jets of yellow res shot out from under his wings, attempting to buoy him up, and he managed to land without doing too much damage to his body. His indignant, startled squawks weren't quite the noises a lammergeier ought make, but they were human cries made through a raptor's vocal apparatus. When he was safely on the ground, a little beat up, but not unduly injured, he stared up at the Kelvic, taking in much more than just a visual picture of him, sampling his aura, knowing him on a more intimate level. But he didn't act yet. There seemed to be no malice, nor hunger. It had not been an attack. The strange twinned aura, human and animal, made its Kelvic nature quite clear to the feathered magus. He waited, watching warily, to see what the Kelvic would do next. It had the advantage of the high ground, and Hadrian wasn't sure how adept at magic he would be in his altered form. And so he waited.

[Zerren Verre]

Zerren grimaced as he watched the bird tumble down out of the tree. He must be sick, it's like he doesn't even know how to use his wings. By the time the bird had righted itself, all Zerren could see of it was the top of its head and back with flashes of wing as it flapped madly, trying to slow down. I suppose I really should go down to apologize and let him know I don't plan on eating him.

Zerren crawled easily out of the tree and settled to the ground at its base. He kept an eye on the big bird, a hawk of some kind by the look of the beak and wings, just in case it decided to attack first and ask questions later, and shifted back into his human form. "Sorry about that, didn't mean to startle you." The bird didn't seem to be physically injured, but it's strange squawking seemed to denote a bit of injury to the creatures pride. Well that's your own fault, don't go climbing trees when you're sick. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what do you have? And is it contagious?"

ooc :

Sorry about the lack of formatting. DX I'll come back through and fix it when I have the time and connection speed to do so.

[Hadrian]

When the Kelvic revealed his human form and spoke, Hadrian knew he had to shift back as well to communicate. Squawking had not translated to lammergeier speech months ago when he was getting tips from Ethan on his breed's morphology, and it certainly wasn't going to work with a panther Kelvic. He released his hold on the giant lammergeier model, speeding his shift with a bit of djed, and there was no flash of light as with a Kelvic transformation, though light did seem to glimmer under his skin as everything went back to normal. He was crouched there on the ground, looking up with chlorine blue eyes gone terribly bright, blue streaked through his hair by the storm. "I'm not ill," he said. "You startled me and I fell. I am still working on flight."

[Zerren Verre]

"Still learning to fly? You're a bird, and you've obviously been around for quite a few summers, how have you managed to avoid learning that until today?" Zerren quickly shifed into his panther form and immediately back again. "And I won't even get started on how slow that morph was. Is there something wrong with your magic?" Maybe the power to shift erodes over time... Gods, how terrible would that be? Zerren shivered at the thought. The idea that he could lose his ability to shift and hunt properly was almost as bad as staring out at the sea.

[Hadrian]

"I'm a man," he averred. "The bird form is something I'm working on, hence the slow speed. I will get better." He tried not to react poorly to the criticism, but he was a bit ruffled by the fall and the communication barrier that he was intent on tearing down. He liked to understand and be understood. "I wasn't born with the skill as you were, Kelvic." His words were not severe, not unkind, but Mizahar was dangerous and just because Kelvics felt the need to bond to a human didn't mean they wouldn't hurt another human for the sake of their bonded partner. "Are you hunting alone today?" he asked cautiously.

[Zerren Verre]

Zerren peered at the man crouched before him for a moment before deciding how to respond. I certainly can't see any feathers on him... But what sort of man changes form, even as poorly as that? Zerren couldn't decide how to deal with a creature if he didn't have any idea what it was. Like that dead fortune teller all over again, but I've got even less information here... Well, best to assume he can read my mind too. "I'm a panther, we tend to hunt alone. Care to explain more about what you mean by 'working on the form'? It's always been my experience that you either have a form or not, no learning required."

[Hadrian]

Sometimes a visual demonstration was worth a thousand words, so Hadrian stared closely at the Kelvic's face for a few moments, then sent a surge of djed into his face, letting it change colors to match the Kelvic's own, then the more subtle bone structure and the like. It took next to no time to get something recognizable as the Kelvic, but as time continued to pass, his keen observational skills and his discipline refined that mask until the Kelvic was looking as if in a mirror or a calm pool. The rest of Hadrian hadn't changed, but he wore another face.