To Meet a Tiger

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate smiled and nodded at the girl. "I usually hunt alone too. It's been a while since anyone has come with me." He shrugged. "So you might have to remind me that you're here, else I might just wander off!" He grinned, but he was only half joking. Nate was very much used to hunting alone now that his friend had decided to peruse other things. He tended to get a bit lost in the moment, and more than once he had needed to go back to retrieve things he'd left behind.

He gestured to the reaches before them. "Shall we?" Nate shoved his hands in his pockets and began to walk. Since the snows had come back, he hoped that his footfalls would be quieter again. He hadn't been able to get used to the crunching of leaves, stones and goodness knows what else that had been exposed on the forest floor.

As they walked, Nate glanced over to Sheva. He could sense the excitement rolling off her, though he could also tell she was trying to hold it back. He hoped that she wouldn't let it distract her, but he smiled to himself all the same. "So...do you prefer hunting with a bow, or as a cat? I mean, as a tiger."

ooc :

Feel free to move them on into the forest with your post and lets get them hunting! (:

[Sheva]

Sheva laughed at his words as they began to walk toward the hunting grounds. She was feeling abit anxious not wanting to embarrass herself by sabotaging his hunt but that only made her more determined to prove herself. Now and then as they walked side by side she shot him small quick glances observing him. He was clearly taller than her, taller than most of the people here actually and his body seemed to be in quite good shape. Ofcourse that was a necessity for a hunter.
"That's a difficult question to answer, as a tiger the hunt is more driven by instinct than thought and with a bow it's the opposite, I'm better ofcourse as a tiger but the bow is more exhilarating as it's a newfound territory."
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A few minutes later they arrived at the forest and Sheva immediately began focusing on her senses. She could definitely smell that there was prey in the area. Hearing though was much more difficult, the snow may have made them quieter but it did the same for the prey. Sheva's instincts were already raring to go although her thoughts had the front seat. "Well there's a definite scent of prey in the area nearby. So how do you want to do this, I normally find a choke point and wait in a nearby tree." she said loud enough for Nate to hear but not soft enough for it to be a whisper. Her eyes scoped the area looking for more traces of the prey.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate listened to her reply with interest. He had never thought about how a cat hunted before. The only animals he was ever concerned about were wolves and bears. The thin layer of snow crunched underfoot as the pair made their way to the trees, and Nate said nothing more till Sheva had commented on some scent in the air.

Nate couldn't smell it himself, so he assumed that the girl retained some heightened senses when she shifted forms. He gave a brief nod, his eyes carefully picking over the space before them.
"Well, I'm the opposite. I usually go to my prey."

He glanced over at Sheva then and smiled. He pointed at the base of a tree a little ways off. "See how the snow has been scratched away over there? The ground is showing, so something's been digging there."
Nate carefully made his way over and took a closer look. The area that had been disturbed was small, and now that he was over there he could see what appeared to be tracks leading away.

"What kind of thing can you smell? It looks like there could have been some rabbits here or something." He didn't know if Sheva could differentiate between prey in her human form, but he seriously hoped she wasn't about to tell him it was a wolf.

[Sheva]

Sheva listened as Nate pointed out his observation on the dug up snow, giving him a smile that showed that she was impressed. Closing her eyes she breathed in through her nose slowly, sifting through the many scents as she stepped closer to the dug up snow.. Distinguishing between was much harder in human form, but there was definitely another scent in the air now. Nate was right it smelt like the familiar scent of rabbit and the other scent, a pungent stench...wet dog, or more likely wolf. Sheva's body tensed slightly, there was a definite tension between the feline and canine family, and although a wolves never really posed a threat to her in a tiger form, a pack of wolves was always dangerous. Sheva couldn't be sure as she was not used to hunting in the snow but it was definitely in the canine family.
"Yes, I think you're right about the rabbits, but there's another scent, a wolf or fox hunting the rabbits?...No definitely a wolf."
Sheva began to walk slowly in the direction of the tracks. Her body focused on her senses, wolves may pose a threat to them especially since Nate didn't have an intimidating animal form, but she assumed he could hold his own. If not, wolves, and any other canine for that matter were easily avoided by the simple unspectacular feat of climbing a tree. 'Stupid dogs' she thought to herself.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate returned the girls smile and then watched her curiously as she closed her eyes. He wondered briefly what she was doing until he heard her breathing deeply. She was obviously trying to figure out the answer to his question. Since he was crouching next to the dug up snow, he shifted his weight back onto his heels and waited.

His eyebrows rose a little at her reply. A wolf was around? Nate stood quickly and took another look around the small clearing the pair were currently standing in. There were no other prints that he could see, but of course that didn't mean that wolves weren't here. There were plenty of trees around to hide the canines.

Nate returned his attention to Sheva. "What do you think we should do? The rabbits certainly seem to have moved on, and I don't see wolf prints in the actual clearing." He paused to listen for a moment, hoping to perhaps catch the sound of something small rummaging around the undergrowth.
"We can wait here and see if anything else shows up or we can try and follow the rabbits."

Nate shrugged his shoulders to show that he didn't mind which option was chosen. He gathered that Sheva hadn't hunted on foot for a little while, so he felt that she should be the one to make the decision.

ooc :

Go ahead and choose whichever option you like. You can have them follow or stay and bring in prey/predator/whatever you want

[Sheva]

Sheva could see Nate tense up slightly. At the mention of wolves, which was understandable. She watched him quietly as he contemplated her words. She looked around while he spoke, scanning the area for any more signs of animals. He had given her the choice, whether to go look for for prey or wait here. She knelt down as she began to sift through the pros and cons. Her animal side shouted at her to stalk the prey, as a tiger she reveled in stalking her prey before striking. But her human side wanted to wait, but Sheva was slowly realizing that she was just attempting to be more human. But this inner turmoil would have to wait.
"Let's go hunting." she said confidently as she stood up arming herself with her bow.
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They began to walk deeper into the forest, searching for richer hunting grounds. Twenty minutes passed before Sheva caught sent of something, a wolf, definately a wolf. Her grip on the bow tightened as she shot Nate a look and mouthed 'wolf'. She could only count one which was good. There was a sudden rustle from a nearby bush and Sheva bared her teeth instinctively, revealing her elongated canines. Then more rustling, louder this time, Sheva knocked her arrow drawing the string and pointing it in the area of the rustling. Wait, something was wrong, there was a sudden rustle from behind her aswel, there were two.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate nodded once at her brief response. He hadn't noticed personal dilemma that the girl had been having, since he didn't realise just how differently Sheva's two forms thought and acted. Unlike her, Nate left his bow slung over his back to keep his hands free, though of course it was still quickly available should he need it in a hurry.

He followed her as she led them deeper into the trees. All the while, Nate kept his eyes on their surroundings, listening out for the tell-tale scratchings of creatures foraging for leaves and other things hidden beneath the snowy blanket. The occasional scratch marks on a tree would cause him to tense up, but Sheva never stopped to pay much attention to them, which put him at ease again pretty quickly. Her superior sense of smell would have surely told her whatever had made the mark was still around, and if she wasn't worried, Nate shouldn't be either.

After a short while, he stepped up to walk beside her, the pair moving through the snow as quietly as they could. Nate wasn't expecting her to stop as suddenly as she did, and he glanced sidelong at her just in time to pick up on the single word she mouthed. He furrowed his brow and glanced around them, unable to pinpoint exactly where this canine was supposed to be. He mimicked the girl, pulling his bow from his back and nocking an arrow to the string.

He fixed his eyes on the point she was aiming at, steeling himself. He sensed Sheva tense up right before a second noise was heard behind them. He spun, pointing his bow at where he thought the second noise had come from. The pair were standing shoulder to shoulder now, facing in opposite directions.

At almost the same time, the wolves stepped from the trees. They weren't dire - at least the one Nate could see wasn't. He could feel his heartbeat picking up as nerves and adrenaline coursed its way through his veins, and he slowly pulled back the string of his bow. The wolf took a deliberate, slow step forward as he let his arrow loose.

Nate's arrow missed its aim - the beasts chest - instead landing itself in the canines shoulder. It let out a half yelp, half grow, and its eyes flashed menacingly at the boy. Nate was about to grab another arrow, when he realised that the wolf had tensed all of it's muscles. He was no canine expert, but he knew what a dog looked like when it was about to pounce.

Abandoning his bow to the snow, Nate fumbled in his pocket for the only form of melee defence he possessed - his skinning knife. The wolf leapt forward, just as he had expected, and the brunt of the beasts weight smacked into his shoulder. Unable to hold it, Nate tripped backward and the pair landed heavily on the ground. His mind was in a panicked survival mode now, and he bought the blade up without thinking, praying that the wolf didn't try to sink its teeth into his face.

His knife had a better aim than his arrow had done and it bit into the animals neck. Nate felt a slight resistance before the skin gave way, and the animal gave a high-pitched yelp of pain as its windpipe was severed. With a grunt, he managed to roll the dying creature off of himself, and Nate simply lay in the snow, his breath coming hard and fast, completely forgetting that Sheva had been facing a wolf of her own.

[Sheva]

As the wolves stepped out of the bushes Sheva instinctively let out a low growl. Many thoughts ran through her mind as the situation unfolded. She needed to protect herself, and what about Nate? No he could look after himself. The wolf wasted no time sprinting toward her teeth bared as it ran, Sheva let loose and arrow which flew straight into the wolf's upper front leg. the wolf let out a pained yelp as it's leg gave way and it hit the ground coming to a stop a few feet away. Before the wolf could muster the strength to stand up Sheva quickly knocked another arrow and shot the wolf between the eyes, ending it's suffering.
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Being caught up in the heat of the moment Sheva had almost completely forgotten about Nate and the other wolf but to her relief it he was okay and the wolf was dead. It seemed that his arrow had hit the wolf in the shoulder and Nate had resorted to knifing it, but he seemed uninjured which relaxed her. Sheva dropped to the ground beside Nate laughing happily. "That was fun, we sure do make a good team." she said while catching her breath. The excite of the hunt beginning to dissipate.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate slowly pushed himself into a seated position, dropping his knife onto the snow beside himself. He looked over into the grinning face of Sheva as she settled next to him. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow before smiling back.
"Fun? I suppose that's one word of it!" He chuckled before looking behind him to see what hd come of the other wolf. Sheva appeared to have shot it twice with her arrows, and he could see the long marks in the snow from where it had fallen.

Nate looked down at his clothes. He had a large muddy mark over his left shoulder where the wolf had hit him, but most of his top was covered in the animals blood. He sighed and plucked at it gingerly before retrieving his knife. Dropping it in the snow had cleaned the blade, so he stood up and shoved it back in his pocket.

He then looked around for his bow. He had managed to throw it quite a way, so he trudged over to grab it. As he reached down Nate felt a twinge in his shoulder, no doubt from the wolf or the impact of hitting the ground. He didn't bother to look at it though, there was most likely a bruise already appearing. He slung his bow over his back and turned to Sheva again.

"I think now is probably a good time to head back."
The pair retraced their steps through the forest in companionable silence, the body of a wolf being carried by each. They were both drained of energy, and Nate was feeling more and more like sleeping as soon as he reached home. He only hoped that his next hunt had a very different, much nicer ending.

[Valkyrie]

Thread Award Nate Frostfawn : Experience 2 Observation 2 Socializing 2 Tracking 2 Weapon: Shortbow 2 Weapon: Skinning knife 3 Hunting Lore Sheva: Tiger Kelvic Hunting with a Partner Recognizing When a Wolf is Going to Pounce Other Injury: Sore and bruised shoulder for 5 days Inventory: + wolf corpse Notes: This was a fun thread, you and Sheva definitely found an activity to bond over. The scene with the wolves was very well done and I thought your characters actions were very realistic for the situation and his skills. Good job! Sheva : Experience 1 Observation 2 Socializing 2 Detection 2 Weapon: Longbow 3 Hunting Lore Nate Frostfawn: Vantha Hunter Scent of a Rabbit Scent of a Wolf Hunting with a Partner Other Inventory: + wolf corpse Notes: This was a fun thread and Sheva proved herself a very useful hunting partner. I would recommend playing down to your character’s skill level a little more, using a bow and arrow shouldn’t be so easy if you are new to it. Please send me a PM if you have any questions or concerns.