[The Underground Forest] Hunting the Hunter (Complete)

[Alron]

Date: 7th day of Fall, 510AV
Time: Midday

How petching hard can it be to find one of the few people in this city who doesn't have red hair?! Alron thought as he ducked under another pipe that was feeding water to the various plants being grown within the bowels of the city. He was here on a hunch that he would be able to find the citie's resident cat. He had only met her a few days prior, but he was, unpleased with the way he had ended their conversation to say the least. "Big cat's like forests right?" He muttered to himself, although this was unlike any forest on the outside, stalactites, stalagmites, and luminescent mushrooms creating any eerie pattern of shadows around him. He normally avoided going down here, mainly because he had no reason to be down here, all the food he needed was up in the commons. "It doesn't help that that mangy ball of feathers isn't here to help me look." He complained, Rel having refused to come along, mostly to do with the fact that she could turn into a cat and eat him at any time. There I go talking to myself again, He chided himself, used to 'external thinking' as his old teacher had refered to it. But in the aviaries he didn't need to worry about people hearing him, and it seemed to calm the birds some since he wasn't just some silent figure grabbing at them and making them do tricks for chunks of meat.

He was about to go off on a mental tangent about life in the aviaries when his foot got caught on one of the pipes that sat closer to the ground, sending him face first into the stone floor. Through sheer dumb luck he was able to catch himself, although the force of his hands suddenly impacting the rough stone wasn't the best feeling in the world. He stood back up, rubbing his hands a little before continuing on, this time paying more attention to where he was going. Petching pipes, I swear they designed this place to be a death trap...

[Aria]

Aria on a ledge about twenty feet o the ground, dozing peacefully in the underground forest. IT was one of her avorite places to go, being the closest thing to a real forest in the cold o the fall. "Big cat's like forests right?" The mumbled sentence startled the massive cat from a light slumber. She stretched out, arching her back up into the air, and then looked out over the ledge for the source. Well wasn't this a pleasant surprise, It was the show-off from a few days ago. She thought she had recognized the voice from somewhere. He was far enough away to not have seen her yet. "It doesn't help that that mangy ball of feathers isn't here to help me look." Mangy ball of feathers? poor bird. Good thing he wasn't here. Aria didn't want to have her fun at the poor birds expense. she stalked to the edge of the small outcropping, and leaped down, landing softly on the floor below. Aria crept quickly but quietly towards Alron, using the stalagmites as cover this is going to be hilariousshe thought to herself. With that, she stepped out from behind a particularly large pillar of rock, adopted and imposing stance (which wasn't hard, seeing as she weighed nearly half a ton), and roared. Loudly.

[Alron]

First off, the shadows hadn't been helping things any. Second, he was preoccupied with trying not to fall flat onto his face again. He was preparing to step over a rather large pile of "fertilizer" when a black figure stepped out in front of him and roared, filling the cavern with the deafening sound. Alron couldn't help but let out a yelp before turning tail and running the other way. He made it a few feet before falling face first in, what he prayed to any god that was listening, was mud. Thankfully it was indeed mud, and he would have stopped to count his blessings if he wasn't being chased, or at least he thought he was. There was no way he could out run whatever it was on this terrain, and it sounded big. Without thinking he got up into a crouch, simultaneously wheeling around to where he had been fleeing from and unsheathing his dagger, bringing it out into a defensive position in front of him. Slowly with his free hand he wiped the grime from his eyes and saw the source of the roar, a very large cat. VERY large. His mind was racing, How the hell did a cat that big get in here? How long would it take to eat me? Would I really be able to fend it off with just a dagger? One brief thought brought the chaos to a halt though, Didn't she say something about turning into a big cat the other day?

Slowly he sheathed his dagger, then slumped back into a seated position. He wiped the mud off the rest of his face and exhaled sharply. "Either you are the girl who I met after the show, or I am five seconds from being eaten alive by some wild cat that worked it's way into the city." He gasped, his heart still racing, "Or both". He felt stupid now, after all, he had come down here based on a judgement of her feline nature, and he had nearly been scared to death. He was just hoping the lighting was dim enough to hide the redness of his face. "You know, for a giant cat living amongst a bunch of red-heads, you are a real pain to find."

[Aria]

Aria chuckled. it was a deep, throaty sound, almost like a growl. Quite foreign to a cat's vocal cords. She really scared hip out o his wits! He had almost fallen into a pile of crap. She padded slowly up to Alron, put her face about two inches from his, and let out another rumbling roar. She then shape shifted. She was now human again, her long, dark hair cascading over her left shoulder. her pale skin almost seemed to glow in the light given of by the various types of luminous flora. She remained Crouched over him for a brief moment, naked as the day she was born. "Oh I'm sorry" said Aria cynically "Did I scare you? looks like you almost wet your pants. And you shouldn't blush, it clashes with your hair. She stood and took a step back, holding out a hand to help Alron up "I'm assuming that the 'big cat' you are looking for was me?"

[Alron]

The second roar didn't have half the effect of the first one, even if it was right in his face. Alron had already resigned to whatever fate had in store for him. However, the last thing he had expected was the sudden flash of light which replaced the large cat with the girl from yesterday, minus her clothes. It wasn't the first time he had seen women naked, courtesy of the public bath house, but this was the first time he had seen one crouched over him. Suddenly he was very glad he was wearing his pants.

"If you wanted me to stop blushing, you didn't help anything crouching naked over me." He replied, accepting the hand up. "And is this the part where I try to be all manly and say I wasn't scared, I simply tripped while trying to roar back?" He flashed a playful grin, having to conciously force himself to keep his eyes locked on hers instead of allowing them to wander. "I wanted to apologize for running off in the middle of our conversation after the show, as well as unloading all... that on you." He explained, refering to his angry rant about his past.

[Aria]

Aria really enjoyed messing with members of the opposite gender. took away the sting and loneliness of not having a bondmate. It helped keep her sane. She noticed the blush didn't fade as she helped him up, and he seemed to be concentrating on her face rather hard. He was probably trying not to look elsewhere. Not that there was much to look at... Aria thought to herself. Her small frame wasn't particularly voluptuous, in fact, she was a little flat, though not so much as to make her unattractive. "I'm a Kelvic, being a savage animal makes up for the lack of clothing" said Aria sarcastically as she helped Alron up "And I don't mind the unloading, I'm used to wanna-be Endal sob stories, I hear them all the time. The worst ones are the Endal that lost their eagle and became Dek. It's pitiful."

[Alron]

"I don't think you're savage, so much as you are just trying to cover for something... And not the lack of clothes." Alron said, woth a look close to sympathy on his face. "You remind me of Rel when he first arrived at the aviary. He was an angry little thing, loved driving people crazy, especially my teacher. He'd steal his keys if he left them out for a minute or two, maybe dive at his hair, small stuff. I got a kick out of it, mainly because he was a jerk. Rel even hated me at first, and I got attacked a fair number of times. But I guess he saw something in me, maybe some part of him. He needed a someone to take care of him, and I needed a friend. He'll still attack me every once in a while, but it's always just playful teasing". And with that little expository nugget he slid his hands behind his head and interlaced them.

"Of course, there is quite a difference behind the mind of a bird and the mind of both women and cats, I certainly don't claim to know the least about either." He laughed a bit. "Heck, I hardly know my own mind". He let out a sigh and closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the first time he had met the flying ball of feathers he called his friend. The image of his teacher looking desperately for keys that dangled only a few feet over his head in the grip of the small bird beinging a smile to his face.

[Aria]

The little spark of anger and cynicism that always smouldered in Aria flared at Alron's subtle allusions. Memories, scenes from her past, from that night flashed through her mind, bringing with it a flood of emotions that she worked so hard to keep at bay. The loneliness, the hatred, the anger, and even the fear came bubbling back to the surface. A look of anger and pain crossed Aria's face, the composure that she worked so hard to keep slowly breaking down. "Some things are left unsaid" Said Aria in a cold, hard voice. She was almost shaking trying to hold back. Then all hell broke loose inside of her and she morphed, taking a swipe at Alron's side with one of her massive paws, claws unsheathed. Later on, she would be surprised, Alron knew just where to poke the knife to open the old wounds. It usually took a lot more to break her.

[Alron]

Alron barely managed to get back in time to avoid the full force of the blow. Even still, he felt claws dig into his side, and a quick touch revealed that blood had been drawn. Apparently something he had said set her off, unintentionaly of course, but stabbing someone on accident didn't make it hurt any less. "I'm sorry that I upset you, I didn't mean to." He offered, still trying to back up without falling again. He should have turned and ran, but something in his gut nagged him into staying, even if only to keep her anger from being redirected on someone else. Maybe it was the fact that he had done the same thing the other day, although choosing to express his anger through his words, although had he been part giant cat, things might have gone a little differently. That was when an idea popped into his head.

"Look, I'm no expert, but I know that after telling you guys what happened the other day, it hurt for a bit, but afterwards I felt better than before." He tried, the words sounding even crazier out loud than they had in his head. For some reason he had been playing things fast and loose, not taking the time to think out his actions and words and it seemed he was about to have to pay for it very soon. His hand reached for his dagger again, but he shrugged the thought out of his head, he didn't want to come across as hostile.

[Aria]

Aria barely registered a word of what Alron had said. He stood slowly, checking his side for damage. After he had gotten his footing, his hand swayed toward his dagger hesitantly, and Aria leaped through the air at him. Her massive paws connected with Alron's shoulders and he was brought down under her massive form. She stood over him, like a cat with a mouse, and once again brought her face close to his. She let out a low growl that gradually deepened and transformed into an all out roar. She was so close that for a moment, his head was actually partially in her mouth. Out of the blue, the actual meaning of Alron's word's managed to cut through the fog of anger in her mind. Her jaw, which was stretched wide, slackened suddenly It would probably appear to anyone else that she was about to chomp down and take Alron's face off. She morphed yet again, and was crouched over Alron naked for the second time that night. Her mouth still hung open and she stared into Alron's face with a look of intense sorrow. I just attacked someone.. She thought to herself "i'm no better than the murderers." Her green eyes sparkled with tears for the first time since her family was killed. "I'm so sorry, Alron" She said, Apologizing out of character for her. She stood slowly and walked over to a pillar of stone that was nearby and slammed her fist into it as hard as she could (Which was pretty considerable) A sharp pain and a few pops told her she had broken three knuckles in her right hand. She couldn't bear to turn and face Alron.