[Flashback] The True Nature of Things (closed)

[Hex]

74th of Fall 509av As quiet as the grasslands were, a life filled the air as it often did on the plains. An energy that hummed subtly, shifting beneath the seemingly bare surface of the undulating hills and swaying grass stalks. Amongst the patterned movements of the sea of grass was the body of a goat; partially blended into the environment as waves of the sea flowed and swept grass around it protectively. As dangerous as the grasslands were, there were ample opportunities to mask oneself in this air of life. Not far behind crouched the brown and black figure of Hex, weaving silently through the grasses with her eyes on the goat. Traps that Hex had set up bells before captured no food; the animals were learning Hex’s tricks. Hex had found the small goat’s tracks not far from where she sat, disgruntled over her grumbling stomach, and immediately recognized the hoof prints to be small enough for her to take down herself. She lowered her nose to the ground several times as she followed the tracks, breathing in the odours that had fallen from the goat’s hooves during its travel. As Hex followed closer, the goat’s scent came into full bloom and floated on the back of the wind. Hex lifted her face to the air and breathed in slowly, flaring her nostrils and filling her lungs with the smell to memorize it. When she thought she had lost track of the trail, Hex closed her eyes and concentrated, reaching out with her auristics to define an aura around the scent. Like trails of smoke the aura extended and drifted off into the distance. Good thing too because the tracks she had been using to follow the goat had fallen on dry earth and rock beds that hid the goat’s direction from her tracking abilities. The subtle bit of auristics she used guided her towards the goat, and soon she was nestled at the bottom of a hill, watching the grass shift as the goat wiggled its way through them. Once or twice Hex thought the goat had looked over its shoulder, but she bowed her head and let her cloak conceal her from sight. She would have to attack soon if she didn’t want the goat to detect her and flee.

[Dhanya]

Some days she just couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched.

It seemed to be a goat thing. She never felt quite as, what was the word, vulnerable. She never felt as vulnerable when she was human. Pygmy wondered if it was the opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs were great. Sometimes she would try to pick something up with a hoof and end up stamping in frustration.

It was difficult to be frustrated with Cyphrus though. From what she had seen it was exactly her sort of place. So lush and delicious from corner to corner. Nowhere else had ever felt like a wall-to-wall buffet. It was doing wonders for her expenses. Now she only bought food when she was hungry for a change.

Hints of sunflower in this patch... and did her eyes betray her? No! It was dandelions. Yellow teeth were always worth dandelions. She wished Khiara could eat grass, she would have loved to share it and talk about the flavours. She accidentally bit down on a beetle and bleated at the acrid taste. Insects in the salad, she was going to complain to the maitre'd.

"I am so funny." She thought to herself, wondering if she should tell Khiara that as well, when she got back to her.

She liked Khiara. Khiara was nice.

She had yet to hear Hex moving behind her, though she did look her way occasionally. Every time she missed her. If the wind changed she would know immediately but until then, Hex was too good at hiding to be seen from afar.

[Hex]

Hex moved closer and closer to the goat, making sure to stay directly behind it. This is going to be so easy she thought to herself. The little furry was oblivious to her, taking her down would be a simple matter of jumping on its back to weigh it down, and then thrust the hunting knife down through the crease of its neck and shoulder. The cut would obliterate the veins and arteries traveling to the arm and the goat would bleed out in a matter of seconds. Hex burned her eyes into the back of the goat’s body, picturing its juicy corpse roasting over a fire. The mere thought ignited her salivary glands, to which she pressed her lips together and swallowed repeatedly. Her stomach grumbled and she almost gave up her chase, thinking that hunting berries wasn’t as hard to do. Hex halted in her pondering when the goat stopped mid walk. Hex jerked in surprise, her foot shifting and crunching grass under her. The goat had to have heard her then, and Hex felt a sort of awkward panic - she was detected by her prey now, rendering her camoflauge useless. She stood up in alarm and ripped the cloak from her shoulders dramatically as she sped forward towards the goat. She angled her left arm behind her, hiding the knife along the length of her wrist as she dug her feet into the ground rapidly, coming closer and closer to the goat.

[Dhanya]

Beetles. Why hadn't it flown away? She could never get rid of the tas...

There definitely was something behind her then because she'd heard it. Pygmy turned her head. It was a person, standing still.

And then suddenly, not still at all. Pygmy was fairly sure she had a knife, though the quickness of the moment was preventing her from focusing on anything more about the woman holding it. She was not such a fool that she did not intuit Hex's intentions toward her.

Hex saw a goat running away from her only for an instant. There was a bright flash of light, enough to speckle her vision with sunspots. Then Hex found she was no longer chasing down an ungulate and was instead directly behind a shrieking, naked girl.

"Don't eat me! What the fuck is wrong with you? Who doesn't ask first?" Pygmy shrieked, finding it much more difficult to dart through the grass on two legs. "Cannibal! Cannibal!"

Were it not for the obvious surprise, Hex might have noticed that she was quite light on her feet. She had already made her way to the nearest climbable tree, one of few that could be found towards the outskirts of the sea of grass. She climbed with great alacrity, seeming to bounce off the ground like a goat jinking, which she was.

It occured to her, entirely belatedly, that Hex could still throw a knife from that distance. Still, flight response aside, she had yet to meet a person who thought people were a suitable repast. Except for that one Myrian...

"You're not Myrian, are you?" She cried out, keeping as far behind a branch as she could.

[Hex]

The goat fled with surprising speed, a chase Hex was as first prepared to engage in. But then it transformed into a small girl and ran up a bloody tree. The knife Hex was wielding dropped to the ground with a thud. Her jaw dropped open and her legs gave way beneath her, sending her onto her backside in the grasses. She had held her breath while running and it still was stuck in her windpipe. Hex looked up at the girl, ignoring her panicked questions. Hex sat there a moment, trying to piece together the situation that she had just seen. The girl was a shape shifter, that much was clear. Hex had seen this sort of thing before, morphers from her tribe, but not with a flash of light or the speed and ease that this young girl displayed. The goat was no mere morpher. Finally after moments of anticipated silence, Hex looked into the girl’s face and frowned visibly as her stomach roared in protest. “You’re not a goat!! You’re a person! I can’t eat you!” Hex sounded mortified, and crossed her arms in frustration, looking away like a child disappointed by a broken toy. She had been trapping and tracking all day, and her plans for meat eating were dwindling with every new outrageous experience. If the sea of grass kept this up, she was going to have to forage the earth for some nuts and seeds - not her idea of a hearty meal.

[Dhanya]

Pygmy liked to think she left a strong impression upon people. She'd never made someone fall over in shock before. She was heartened to see that she was not the only one affected by the sorry state of affairs that came with almost being eaten. In fact, she was quite pleased with the effect. Had she not been shaking with adrenaline, she would have savored the moment more thoroughly.

"Yes, you better be impressed," she thought, "Should be ashamed too, trying to eat people. Just because you're from the boonies doesn't mean you should give up on manners, eat people without even checking if they are people."

"You know what would be nice? An apology would be nice!" Pygmy shouted back at her. "I don't even know you! And I am a goat, just not all of the time!"

It was cold in the tree. All her clothes were back at the caravan, with her tent and her pony. The only thing she had on her was her necklace. It was not much for keeping the warmth in. And she could still taste beetle.

Being a goat, it was hard sometimes.

[Hex]

Hex’s eyes widened at the young girl’s shouting, and her mouth twitched into a smile when she demanded an apology. Apologize for trying to feed myself? She thought, pulling the cloak from her shoulders and laying it down at the foot of the tree. Next she planted the blade of the hunting knife into the ground within full view of the girl. She was intrigued by the girl, and from her tone it sounded like she was as much of a goat as she was human. This was perplexing, as the morphers she knew of did not specifically refer to themselves as the animals they took the form of - simply because there were many forms a morpher could take. “I won’t hurt you little one. Take my knife if it would make you feel more safe.” She started her apology in her head. I’m sorry you’re a goat... Oh no that’s not right. I’m sorry you appeared to be a goat and that your morsels looked so juicy. Ok that won’t work. I’m sorry you are a very strange goat indeed who is also a human girl. Hex sighed and let the air in her lungs out in a huff. “I’m sorry I tried to hunt you. Next time I will be certain to check for humans in animal disguise.”

[Dhanya]

Pygmy wondered for a moment if there was an etiquette for situations like the one she found herself in. She was fairly sure taking the knife would be rude. Unfortunately she was also sure that if she did take the knife, the woman would be able to disarm her very easily if it turned out that taking the knife in the first place was rude and disrespectful of the show of the trust and then she'd be without a knife and the other woman would have a knife and that was just not ideal.

"No, no, I'm sure it's happy where it is." She said, uncurling her legs and climbing down the tree again.

Staying in the tree would also have been rude, she thought. Politeness seemed like her safest option. She then remembered having spent the last five minutes yelling at her new acquaintance and realized the ship had well and truly sailed on that. She could never seem to remember about it until her nerves kicked in.

"I'm not really a human, either, to be honest with you." She continued, deciding to carry on regardless. "I'm Kelvic."

The best race in all of Mizahar, by her own estimation.

Pygmy uncurled her legs and quickly climbed out of the tree, keeping her feet at a diagonal to maximise her grip and using her hands to grasp the branches. Once she was on the ground, Hex could see that she was comparatively short by human standards and somewhat comfortable with her own naked state. The younger woman was standing her her hands on her hips, not trying to cover herself with crossed arms.

"You wouldn't happen to have a spare cloak, would you?"

[Mixcoatl]

The Lord of the Hunt is Pleased! The Lord of the Hunt showers you with gifts in joyous celebration! Dhanya Experience +1 Running +1 Climbing +1 Detection ------ Lore Ptuh! Beetles are Bleh! Demanding Apologies Running from Hunters Additional Notes: I love it! You two and your hilarity! *Giggles* It's a shame Hex left before this could be finished, I would have loved to see where this went! If you feel anything's been left out, or if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me a PM!