To Meet a Tiger

[Nate Frostfawn]

17th of Summer, 512AV

Nate had to admit that he almost missed the warmth the Djed storm had bought to the city. Not that he wanted Avanthal ruined of course, he just forgot how much he loved the sun. As it was, the temperatures had returned to their usual, near-freezing levels, and his beloved Avanthal was once again slowly returning to it’s snowy glory.

On this particular day he was trying to decide wether to head out of the city to hunt, or practice in the archery range. Nate was leaning on the range’s barrier, bow slung across his back. He sucked in a breath and pushed back, spinning on his heel and marching away. Outside it would be.

He neared the Icewall Gates at a leisurely pace. Well, he neared what was left of the Gates anyway. There were some Vantha moving around the Icewatch stationed there, already starting to rebuild the city protection. There was a lack of wildlife today; perhaps the amount of people out the front was acting as the deterrent today. Nate sidled past a small group, making his way out into the reaches. He ran over to a nearby outcropping of rocks, climbing up onto them so that he could get a better view over the area. He was hoping to catch some rabbits or a fox, but in any case he’d try his utmost to avoid finding the predators that were no doubt lurking out of sight.

[Sheva]

Sheva was having her daily stroll though the white snow covered landscape. Since the Denvali fleet arrived at the Avanthal harbor a few weeks ago Sheva had spent most of her time outside the walls of the beautiful city. The snow was so beautiful and she couldn't help being excited. Her pure snow white fur coat blended perfectly with the snow covered surroundings making her almost invisible to most. She spent her time here rather than within the crowded city of friendly strangers. She was lonely though, too afraid to attempt to talk to someone unless it was unavoidable, and so once a day for many hours Sheva would leave the city, hide her clothes belongings under a specific rock and roam the land in her animal form.

Today had been no different as the magnificent white tigress made her way back to the outcropped rocks where her items were hidden. Only today something was different. As she jumped onto a nearby rock seemingly from nowhere she saw a man, no a hunter not far away. She froze as their eyes met, the tigress locking her sky blue eyes with his, watching him intently, ready to turn and sprint if necassary.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate squinted out over his surroundings. The snow had begun to settle again, already forming a white carpet that stretched from the city. As a result, the watery summer sun reflected off it, right into his eyes. Nate raised a hand to shield his face, blinked a few times and took another look.

Aside from the activity where the Icewall Gates used to be, the landscape was eerily still. Generally, quietness was the norm out here in the reaches, but since the Djed storm all kinds of crazy wildlife had been finding it’s way into the city. Not that Nate was too fussed, he’d much rather find nothing than a pack of angry dire wolves.

Something to the left caught his attention and he turned his head to look. Nate froze immediately.
His eyes narrowed. Was he imagining it, or was there a tiger standing on some rocks nearby. As far as he was aware, the reaches was no place for such a creature to live. Though this one appeared to have adapted. It’s coat was pure white which would allow it to blend nicely with the snow. He wondered how it had hidden over the past few weeks when the ground was bare.

The tiger was beautiful, there was no denying that. It was also most likely very dangerous. Nate was itching to get a closer look at it, but he knew that trying to get closer was a stupid idea, one that would most likely end in his early and grisly death. From somewhere at the back of his mind, he recalled something about meeting wild predators. Look them in the eye, don’t fumble or look away. They wont be able to tell if you’re prey or predator and move on. Nate fixed his seafoam eyes on the bright blues of the feline, hoping against hope that this snippet of information was correct.

[Sheva]

They stood there eyes locked for what seemed like an hour watching eachother intently until Sheva decided it was safe to move, slowly she turned and lept calmly off the rock and disappeared behind another several meters away from the hunter. A minute later a girl emerged from behind the rock, her hair the colour of the tigers fur, she carried with her a cheap wooden bow and a quiver of arrows. She flashed the man a bright smile revealing her slightly elongated canines.. "Uhm Hi" she said shyly.
.
Looking at him she noticed he was actually very attractive, his hair was short and copper coloured and his skin was not as pale as most of the residents of Avanthal. Along with his facial features Sheva decided must not have been pure Vantha. As shy as she was, Sheva decided now was as good a time to talk to someone as ever.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate's sea-foam green eyes held the gaze of the tiger's blue ones. Time seemed to stretch out between them in strange ways, seconds morphing into hours and back again. He didn't move, every muscle in his body tensed, holding him in place. After what seemed like an eternity the great cat turned away, jumping down from the rock and out of sight.

It was then that Nate realised he had been holding his breath, and he let it out sharply. His posture visibly relaxed, though he did not take his eyes off the place the tiger had leapt to. He almost laughed to himself, relieved that the advice he had recalled from goodness-knows-where had saved him a mauling.

However, no more than a chime had passed when there was movement again. He tensed up, expecting the tiger to have changed its mind and was momentarily shocked when it turned out to be a girl coming towards him.
Her hair was white, the same shade as the tigers fur and her eyes were exactly the same bright blue. Having grown up in Avanthal, Nate was fully aware of the existence of Kelvic, and thinking about it, it made sense that a tiger in Avanthal would be one.

As the girl approached, he noticed that she held a crudely cut bow and arrows. It was interesting to see a Kelvic with such possessions, especially a predator one who surely had no problems catching prey in its shifted form. Nate returned her smile.
"Hello." He realised that he was still perched up on the rocks, quite a way above where the girl now stood. He jumped down, landing just in front of her.
"I'm Nate. It's not often we see tigers around here!"
He stuck out his hand for her to shake as he spoke, and flashed her another smile.

[Sheva]

Sheva watched as the handsome stranger jumped down from the rock, he landed nearby and walked over. His voice was warm and friendly which eased some of her nerves. She laughed abit at his greeting and shook his hand lightly.
"Hey, I thought for sure I was going to be someone's dinner."
Her eyes met his again this time noticing they were a beautiful sea-foam green. Sheva quickly looked down hoping he hadn't seen the slight blush crossing her pale cheeks.
I'm Sheva by the way.
she said still looking down. Maybe she would finally make a friend.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate's smile widened as the girl took his hand, a light chuckle escaping him at her words. He watched her for a moment as she looked away, waiting to hear her name so he could address her properly.

"Sheva, nice to meet you!" The smile was still in place, his head tilted ever so slightly to the side. She was still looking at the floor and he wondered what was so fascinating about it. She seemed a little shy though. Perhaps she wan't used to talking to complete strangers.

"And you thought you were going to be dinner?" Nate couldn't help but chuckle again. "I thought you were going to attack me! I'd never shoot at a predator, I'm rather attached to my limbs y'know." He was never entirely sure how to act or respond to people who were so obviously shy, so he usually ended up with his typical stupid jokes.

"So uh... were you hunting or something?" That's what tigers did right? Nate didn't really know anything about tigers, or cats in general, past the fact that they hunted things.

[Sheva]

Sheva couldn't help but laugh at Nate's silly yet well placed jokes.
"Nice to meet you too, Nate."
she said finally looking up again and smiling brightly. Another light blush appeared on her face, this time because of his boyish smile. But she forced herself not to look down this time. Before giving out another gentle laugh,
"Ha, you would be lucky to make it away with your life let alone a limb..."
she said teasingly, then her gaze was on his bow..
"Unless your aim is pretty good in which case you'd be okay."
She was quickly becoming comfortable around him, mostly because of his friendly demeanor.
"Uhm no, I was just enjoying the landscape, it is beautiful out her. What about you? Hunting?"
She assumed hunting was the only thing he could be doing out here, that or practicing his aim.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate let out yet another light laugh, pleased to see that this girl might not be so shy after all. "Well then that gives me all the more reason not to shoot you right?" He grinned before noticing her gaze slide up and back, to something over his shoulder. Ah, his bow.

His aim wasn't terrible, but Nate was by no means a perfect shot. He usually managed to get a kill shot in, albeit they were sometimes messy ones. Target practice, for some reason, seemed to be more difficult for him. A few of his friends teased him, saying he was backwards. 'Who can hit a moving target, but not a still one? Only you Nate haha!' Of course, he wasn't about to admit all of that to someone he had just met.

Nate gave a small shrug. "I could probably hit you, but to be honest I think I'd be freaking out too much to aim properly." He flashed her another grin to show her that he was of course jesting, and was not about to try and kill her anytime soon.

A nod was given at her next words. It was beautiful out in the reaches, though he never really spent his time admiring the view. "Hunting was the aim. Though I hadn't quite gotten to that part yet." He motioned to her own bow. "How good are you with that bow? You can come with me if you've got nothing else to do." Nate figured she knew how to shoot an arrow, since she owned them. Also, being a predator Kelvic she probably knew a thing or two about hunting, so it wasn't like she would be a liability. Besides, it had been a while since he'd hunted with company.

[Sheva]

Sheva let out another laugh at his comments, it was weird to her that people found her animal form intimidating when she was quite the opposite, only intimidated by humans.
"Don't worry I don't bite...that often."
she joked teasingly a playful smirk crossing her face. She was enjoying the company of this man who she had just met. Then the question came, an invitation to hunt with him, Sheva had never hunted with anyone before and excitement began to boil under the surface.
"Uhm I'm...no sure shot, but I can hit my target."
she admitted honestly.
"But I would love to go hunting with you, I've always had to do it alone."
she said trying not to sound too eager, although she was sure some of it escaped since she was now beaming at him.