[Vineyards] The hunter gets hunted [Rykanis]

[Daemon]

Spring Day 49, 512 AV It was early in the day. The sun had come up, but it had been hidden behind some awful dark clouds. It had not started to rain yet. But Daemon thought it would. He felt cold this day, not because it was cold. It was a rather normal temperature. But he had a feeling, that he could not shake off. He had met so many people the last days, well, since coming to Riverfall. His father would have been proud of him. He, who was very bad at getting to know others, had gotten himself a few friends. Or, maybe more like acquaintances. But it was progress. He felt proud of it, now sure that his father would be indifferent. Grumpy and a bit restless, he was going through the main gate. He was in human form. The only reason, was the guards now letting him pass. When in tiger form, lots of people were reluctant to let him go away on his own. As a boy, he barely got noticed. Especially, because everyone was working now. They were all busy. He went left, and saw the beautyful Vineyards unfold infront of him. With a teasing smile he didn't even think to check if anyone was nearby. He stepped out of his shoes and removed his coat. He threw it under a bush and streched. His bony, nude body was pale and dirty. He didn't mind. In his mind, he was already himself. In a leap forward, the boy changed immediately to a white tiger cub in the air. When he landed, he had not foreseen the soft soil, and he crashed. Instead of landing on his paws, he landed on his belly, with his legs spread out around him. Amused, and happy to finally be free, he roared fiercely - at least that was what he thought. His roar was the sound of a simple cub growling, but still could be heard far away. Daemon vanquished into the Vineyard, looking for rabbits to hunt, as these were his favorite meal

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Rykanis had been out early as usual, planning to get in a early morning spar perhaps. Or maybe just wander around. He never really knew were he would end up. But today he had gotten a bit distracted.... What should he see walking around by himself, but a little boy? He couldn't be to old, so he wondered why he was out by himself. It was not uncommon to see young akalak boys by themselves, but this was no akalak, and usually if they were heading out of town, as this one was, they took others... He had to admit, he was intrigued as to what the story was with this boy, and after a bit of convincing, from his other side, he sneaked after him, following at a bit of a distance, but keeping him in sight. After all, it could never hurt to covertly gather a little intelligence on him, instead of approaching him... Hopefully he was not someone who got upset about being spied upon... Assuming he was caught... Rykanis did his best to sneak along unseen. Though he had his lakan in its sheath if he needed to fight, he hoped it would not come to that. He saw as he went through the gates, and after a bit he followed. He almost lost him as he turned to the vineyard, and was and was catching up, when he saw the boy getting nude. What was it with him running into naked people? But his question was answered, as the boy shifted, and suddenly was replaced by a kitty! Well, some type of cat thing, he could never recall what they all were, so just called them all cats. He smiled a bit at hearing the small thing let out a growl, obviously it was happy it was back in its beast form, its kelvic form, and thought it was being ferocious. Then he lost sight of him, as he vanished into the plants, lost amidst the leafy greens. He wandered around a bit, trying to find it, while doing his best not to be seen... But he had lost track of the little thing... Finally he came up on it, by chance, saw its furry body, as it lay low to the ground, and he did his best to stay concealed within the vine.

[Daemon]

Daemon did not notice anyone. He was concentration on tracking. He had caught a scent of a rabbit and was completely ecstatic. He had followed the trail a bit and he felt like he was close. He could be close to anything else though, he was not good at the hole tracking thing yet. He lower his body to the ground, trying to make himself disappear. It turned out to be difficult. As his body was white covered in black stripes, he hada hard time vanishing in the green surroundings. He heard a little scrambling noise not far ahead. Daemons senses reactivated. He felt the hunger. Adrenaline started to pump through his veins. He had always liked this part. Even though he was terrible at it. If he did not practise, he would not learn it. Sneaking was a skill that had to be learned over a long time. Or so his brother had told him. Like he could ever sneak up on something. The thought of his brother hunting made him wanting to laugh. The noise came back. The rabbit was digging. Daemon remembered what he was doing and concentrated. He gathered his body and started lurking towards the sound as silent as possible. But of course, as being a cub he was rather clumsy. He jumped too early and the rabbit heard him. It sprinted like it was on fire and in vain, the tiger tried to follow. He ran into the vines of plants, bumping his head pretty hard and fell. His body was slammed on the ground. He did not get up

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Luckily for him, the tiny cat seemed more preoccupied by whatever it was after, than anyone possibly going after him... Which made it allot easier for him to follow with his limited skills in stealth and sneaking... So he simply followed at a distance, trying not to be seen, as he watched it trail on... Trying to stay low, but often forgetting to keep its entire length down, often its head or rear flanks would pop up... Plus he did not really blend in... That is when he saw the rabbit, which apparently the cub was hunting... Now he had many ideas rushing into his head from what he had gathered, as to some possibilities of why the cat was there... Rabbits were vermin, who destroyed crops, and crop-growers hated them... So had he perhaps been hired to hunt and get rid of the rabbits on behalf of the owner? Was he here with permission? Or did he not have permission, and he was just hunting here after some prey? He did not yet know enough to ascertain which was true, or if there were more possibilities... He watched as the beast suddenly lurched forward, going after the rabbit. However it did not work, as the rabbit was to cunning and quick for him, and it leaped away, getting out of his range. While the cat rammed its head, and knocked itself out on some unknown object... But he had a decision to make, when he saw it had been knocked out, to stay passively searching for info on this thing, or to go active and check on if it was okay... He decided to check on it, and quickly moved forward, trying to get a look on its head. It did not seem to be bleeding, but he could see the start of a bruise... He stooped a bit lower, to make sure it still breathed, might as well at this point.

[Daemon]

The first thing he felt was a huge headache. Daemon moaned. It really hurt. He was confused. Why did it hurt? He remembered the jump. Apparently, he had hit something. Groaning, he began to move his body. All limbs were still intact. That was a good sign. The smell of something reached his nostrils. What was that? It was the scent of a Akalak. One of the blue men. Near him? He could feel the presence of something really close. He decided to open his eyes. Only thing he saw was dirt. His sight were blurry for a couple of seconds, then he could see clearly. Still a bit confused, he lifted his head and looked towards the smell. Closer than he had thought, a stranger was standing, looking at him. A tall dark purple man was at his side. The pale blue eyes was investigating Daemon, trying to see if he was okay. He was. A bit startled by this stranger suddenly appearing, but fine. Daemons eyes wandered quickly past the black hair and further to get a full view of the Akalak. He was a big one. Not sure if he was safe or not, Daemon growled and in one motion he got up and backed away from the stranger. He held his head high, his lips were withdrawn, showing all his teeth. Even though he was still a cub, and his teeth were milkteeth, he could bite. And he could do damage. A deep growling came down from his chest, warning the man to come closer. His fur on his back was standing up, his was holding his tail low with occasional intense twitches and overall he was showing signs of warning. His claws were out, they could easily rip a muscle apart. His ears were twisted backwards. With narrowed eyes he measured the others strength. And he knew, that he was in trouble, would it come to fighting. So he hope that he could scare him away if he was out for trouble. Otherwise, he could make a run for it.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

He had been inspecting the little cub, when its eyes slowly opened. It seemed to take a moment though for him to realize that Rykanis was there, maybe he had hit his head a bit to hard... Though really, hitting your head at all was bad... As the cub popped up growling, and backing away from him, Rykanis hand moved swiftly to his lakan, which he drew out... Just in case he needed it... He would not use it though unless he had to. It was always the funniest when little beasts thought they were bigger and tougher than they really were... Thinking they could take on something so much bigger, ready to take on something in a fight... When he could probably kill it with one slash or stab of his lakan if he had to... Rykanis spoke to the cub in a low calming tone, giving it a nice smile. He did not expect it to understand his words, but usually beasts could tell ones intentions by the tone of the words... "Now now little cub... I was just checking if you were okay... No need to make me kill you... I didn't mean any harm..." Though it also might have just been force of habit for Rykanis by know, to talk to animals. He had spent enough time around kelvics though, that he did tend to speak to animals, half expecting them to understand...

[Gossamer]

. Character: Rykanis Experience: Tracking +2, Observation +1, Stealth +2, Socialization +2 Lore: Following a Target. Anticipating the Moves of a Target. Being unfazed by changes of plans. Being Flexible And Focused in Tracking Additional Note: Cute thread but I wish the kelvic would have given you more to work with. .