Closed Of the night.

[Terror]

5th | Winter

The night was young, sky tinged with pale gold in the west to insinuate that the sun had not yet fully taken its leave. Even the barest sliver of golden light was enough to cause the Zith woman discomfort. It glared under the silvered edge of a cloud, beading against the horizon, and it hurt.

Terror prowled, impatient and with a deep hunger gnawing in her stomach, seeking out something, or anything at all, that she could actually eat. Her mind was focused, narrowed, and there was nothing that could distract her, even the glimmer of shiny things in the hands of people who walked by the street beneath her. They must know that there was something up there, something unwilling to drop down onto street level and therefore limit herself, entrap herself. They did not consider that she would dive down, if necessary, to seize upon the slightest show of food.

But that was a human's limited imagination.

From one rooftop to another, the Zith lit upon each landing surface delicately, lightly testing out every surface she would stand upon before placing her weight upon it fully. There was a level of distrust in these things, as many buildings in this city were ruined enough to crumble under even her weight when she touched them.

Suddenly, half in motion to traverse the distance between one low, sloped rooftop to the other, Terror heard something that caught her attention, even in this moment. It was not the clinking of coins, incessant and piercing, nor a bloodcurdling screech that would raise her fur on end. It was the steady beat of wings, quiet like a whisper, yet still loud.

Her hand retracted from its reach, fingers hooking into the shape of claws as she sat back on her haunches and turned her head upwards, face tilting in order to spot the bird. Her mind churned, taking what she knew of birds and that most migrated, leaving few behind for predators to devour, and attempting to make sense of what lone bird could be here now.

It was black against the navy heavens, an outline against the backdrop of lights in the sky. Restlessly, the Zith shifted, fully turning her body in order to watch the progress of the bird. Her stomach called to it, demanded that it be within.

That alone was enough to urge the Zith into motion, kicking her from the rooftop, which groaned a complaint at her hasty departure. Bird hunting, being different from the hunting of rodents and people, required a level of finesse that a hungry Zith was incapable of, yet it grasped her in the way that simply waiting could not.

[Lucian Hill]

The raven known as Lucian had spent nearly a bell in flight. His wings did not tire yet, and as he littered the darkening sky in tricks and loops he let himself revel in the feeling of being carefree. He had not known his new bondmate, Shai, for even a season though he had finally felt the purpose that the bond had given him. The widow had provided him with a new home, and he was grateful for this - the winter was already freezing, the cold crawling in through the cracks and crevices offered by the poorly constructed apartments of his former residence. He was due to sell that old apartment, though currently it still held a few of his belongings and the basic furniture it had come with. He had kept forgetting to move the rest of his possessions. Cold, even now, seeped through his feathers, though the exertion of flight warmed his currently tiny, black body.

It was nearly time to go home, though he decided to let himself stay out longer than usual.

The raven, while occasionally priding himself on noticing things that were out of the ordinary, found himself under attack of a previously unseen and feral beast. Claws and wings fluttered, feathers falling to the ground as he panicked and narrowly missed becoming the beast's next meal. He did not recognize this creature; though as he flew up and peered down at the thing chasing him, he noticed black, bat-like wings and fur in the dark. It appeared to be some sort of bat-creature, the likes of which he had not seen before. Lucian's fear was almost certainly noticeable to the widow, though he did not call for help. Shai was fragile, more fragile than he was, and he could escape this creature better than she could.

The raven rolled through the air, flying frantically towards his practically abandoned apartment. The window was loose enough for him to push his way in if he needed to, though the door was surely barred from outsiders. He doubted that this would stop the dark creature after him, though it was worth a shot.

[Terror]

The frantic, terrified bird provided Terror with her amusement. The way it drove itself forward gave it away as knowing she was there and she gloated in pride that even a bird could know fear.

In turn, the Zith drove herself harder. Her wings pumped heavily, her fingers curling in anticipation of grasping the bird while her mouth salivated at the thought of biting into it, of gnawing on the bones and cracking the brittle things for their marrow.

The bird flew unpredictably, providing Terror with challenges. She slowed to accommodate the strange patterns reminiscent of other Zith being hunted in the wilderness. She didn't consider the bird capable of thought like her. She herself had placed thought aside in order to answer to base instinct that demanded she eat. It didn't matter that the bird dove and twisted. Terror was relentless. She didn't fear it or its manoeuvres.

[Lucian Hill]

Lucian let out the half-croak, half-caw that identified ravens from crows, and saw, with luck, that his window was still cracked open. It would be freezing inside, but there was at least clothing, though the damn creature seemed incredibly persistent and probably knew how to use doors. It certainly looked strong enough to break down the door, and he was planning on selling this house for some mizas after he moved the few belongings still here to Shai's house in the Scars territory.

He did not look behind him as he dived through the window, barely fitting and losing a feather or two in the process. He practically crashed onto the floor in a flapping flurry of feathers, decided against shifting if only to protect himself from the cold. He fluttered nervously now, hopping around on the floor. The raven shifted now, shivering immediately but pulling on the somewhat thinner cotton clothing leftover from the summer and early fall. He opened the door, not daring to walk outside in the snow while barefoot.

The raven frantically and mentally called for Shai, wondering if she could feel his fear now. Goosebumps covered his arms, the short-sleeved shirt doing very little for warmth, though the pounding of his heart and adrenaline kept him from noticing. He didn't know if Shai even knew that he needed her to be here, but the frailer, smaller woman was much more adept at practically everything compared to him. He wandered to the window, door still open, and peered out carefully. It had been only a chime or three since he landed through the window, and he couldn't see the black creature in the now dark sky.

Petch.

[Terror]

Terror, who had fallen behind in her hunt in order to avoid flying faster than her quarry, flared her wings as she descended from the inky sky, following the bird as he made his escape into the house. Her wings flared to slow her descent, catching the air and beginning to ache as she was resisted- but this was not her first bird hunt.

It was her first encounter with a window.

The Zith collided with it hard enough to rattle it, maybe even crack it, for she hadn't actually understood what it was and so didn't expect it to be a solid surface. With that collision, the Zith tumbled to the ground with a loud shriek, lost in a tumble of wings and limbs and hair, and she righted herself swiftly to lunge back up at the window, finding the narrow opening, and reaching in to swipe around at the indistinct forms she could see through the glass.

Her breath fanned the surface of the glass as she panted with exertion, her own blood trickling from her hairline down her brow from where her head had struck the glass with the full force of her weight. The scent of her own blood only infuriated her further, urging her to begin clawing at the window pane, the nearest surface to it, and whatever came within reach, before she drew back.

At this point, any other Zith might have taken the time to lose interest in the hunt and found something easier. Terror was in no such mood to do so. She was hungry. To all intents and purposes, this bird was just a bird and it was still inside the house, hiding. She hadn't seen that the bird became a man, and the human himself had gone unnoticed in her bestial fury at being evaded by something as simple as a bird.

The Zith growled, rumbling out low sounds and drawing gouges in the snow as she paced, trying to think amidst the urge to destroy the building in order to get at her prey, as if it were a den and she were digging out rabbits.

She didn't notice the door until a few chimes had passed, too drawn into her pacing, her scratching at the packed ground, and her anger at the hunt. When she did notice, she immediately scanned the skies to see if the bird had taken flight while she was preoccupied before starting towards it, wary for a trap.

[Lucian Hill]

In the dark, the creature was terrifying to behold and he whimpered slightly. But as she drew nearer, he could see more humanoid features. She was still difficult to make out, and it appeared that she was of the night herself. He had been cowering in the corner as the scratching of the window and walls. She didn't seem to break anything too badly, and he was glad if for the simplest reason that he'd still be able to sell the place.

As she approached the door, he shivered if both from cold and fear. Something told him that Shai would be unable to make it, and he'd have to deal with this himself. The raven was not too keen on this fact, but it would have to do. The creature did not seem to know that Lucian was the raven, and he looked at her curiously before backing up into his room. He may have accidentally tricked the creature into believing he was something else, but he wondered if she would be against eating him as he was currently.

He was freezing in the clothing he had reserved for sweltering summers, and he knew he would have to get back to his new home soon else he half-froze to death. The raven eyed the creature warily as she stood at his doorway, in all of her fearsome glory. From the little light outside in the streets from stray lanterns, he could barely make out her features. From his position in the corner of the room, he stood up a little straighter, noticing that he was much taller than her. The only fear, however, was that she could probably kill him in an instant and rip apart his innards - not to mention the black, bat-like wings sprouting from her back. Yet, his curiosity was leaking through his fear.

"What are you?"

[Terror]

Though Terror was aware of the man, cowering against the wall more like a child, frightened, would, she only snarled a warning at him, a wordless demand of do not interfere. However, she wasn't dismissing him. Terror could substitute one source of food for another on short notice.

Her head ducked, she craned her neck, almost rising to a fully upright position but returning, as always, to the crouch that had been taught to her. Things topple better if you chew at their ankles.

Finally, Terror slammed her hand upon the ground in fury, realising at long last that her quarry had gone. Flown up in smoke. Eaten by the night. A string of epithets, worded in the pitches of Zithanese, slipped from her as she turned her attention to the man.

In the moment, between realising her prey had gone and that there was still more prey to be had, Terror was surprisingly calm. She was not without tension, ready to spring and claw and bite, but there was the barest margin of curiosity, innate to a Zith among human settlements, that allowed them both a moment of reprieve from the hunting.

Regardless of her receptive nature, Terror didn't understand the question.

Instead of responding, she sat back on her haunches and eyed him, blatantly curious as to how following a bird could have brought her to the den of bigger prey. Was it a disguise? Could birds disguise themselves as humans? Maybe the bird was a pet of some sort. Were birds pets? They were better suited for food.