Closed Elusive Quarry

[Khida]

Spring 11, 513 AV early morning Spring had come to the grasslands, and come in force. Flowers bloomed and birds sang among the vibrant green of rapid new growth. The grasses seemed almost to increase by feet per day -- they didn't, actually, but every time Khida regarded the landscape that's how she felt. In this season also, the grasslands proved their fundamental difference from the desert of her birth; the sudden riot of life was entirely unlike her prior experience. Of course, it was still very new life. When the season was a little further along, Khida thought the hunting would be superb -- it just wasn't there yet. The Kelvic had gone out from the city not so much to forage -- though she surely wouldn't turn down any prey foolish enough to make a target of themselves -- but to get a feel for the new region Endrykas had lately moved into. It was further north than her past travels had explored, and so entirely unfamiliar to her. The falcon had soon spotted a dark line on the far horizon, sure sign of water -- and the trees which grew where water was reliably available. Beneath the trees proved to be a river, a broad and slow ribbon still dark in the predawn gloom. On a whim, she flew low over the water, attempting to look beneath the surface; but if there were fish in the river, the twilight didn't glitter back from their scales. Khida banked, then descended to land on the shore. Turning to face the water, she shifted to human, a nude woman kneeling in the damp grass. The spring breeze promptly set about tousling her hair; she paid it little heed, leaning forward and bracing one hand against the earth as she peered down into the water. Were there fish in there? Khida wasn't very sure. It was an academic question in any case, but she was curious all the same, and thought she might wait until true sunrise to see. She was also wary, glancing around and up at intervals, because human form in a wild place was not something Khida considered at all safe. With good reason.

[Scorn]

It was late, very late. The sun would rise in a very short time, and then hunting would be all but impossible unless Scorn got very lucky. Fortunately, she wasn't terribly desperate; she'd caught a small furry animal toward the beginning of the night, and her shelter for the day had already been found. She just... didn't quite feel like going to sleep just yet. As she glided and a half-asleep daze, she picked up a nearby heartbeat. It sounded like the heartbeat of a larger animal--larger than her breakfast had been anyway. She adjusted her path and flew closer to the sound, noting as she did the long, large stretch of clear water she seemed to be approaching. She would have to remember this place; it was always a treat to find fresh water. She might even be able to follow it for a couple days. But first, food. Right next to the water's edge, there was a pale creature, shaped much like the slaves her colony kept. Scorn was in luck; those slaves were notoriously slow and weak, and while they could be problematic in groups, one alone was easy pickings. Angling herself to be behind the presumably unsuspecting human, Scorn went into a dive, holding out her claws in preparation of grabbing her victim.

[Khida]

As she knelt there on the riverbank, the hair on the back of Khida's neck prickled. She froze in place, listening to the instinct which crawled its cold-fingered way down her spine: You are not alone. You are being watched. She couldn't have said where the feeling came from, what clue her subconscious seized upon. A rustle in the grass, a glimpse of movement at the edge of her vision. It could even have been nothing more than her own imagination, inventing shadows in the gray twilight. But Khida nonetheless felt the way she sometimes did when an eagle rode the higher winds, scouting, hoping for a moment's inattention from the falcon below -- for a falcon was not faster than an eagle if the eagle had sufficient head start. She didn't question whether she was in real danger or not -- better to be safe than sorry. The Kelvic promptly shifted, soft light enveloping her form and recoalescing into the much smaller shape of a peregrine falcon. The bird immediately took to the air in wary silence, unlike the ground fowl her partner often flushed out. She flew out over the water, turning her attention upwards; aloft, she mostly needed to worry about winged predators. And of those, there was one. Large, dark, it stooped down upon where she had been in a blur of shadow and vast wings. Khida didn't catch more detail than that -- she was too busy flying away, and kept only enough watch on the creature to know where it was. She briefly considered taking cover in the shrubbery along the river's edge, but decided that would be scant shelter against something human-sized; the falcon strove for greater altitude instead, seeking the advantage of a superior position over the hunter.

[Scorn]

The sudden light appearing right where Scorn was looking blinded her nocturnal eyes for a moment, causing her to shield them and pull up abruptly. By the time she recovered, the slave-shaped creature was nowhere to be seen, and all she could hear was a tiny heartbeat and the soft flapping wings. She regained her altitude and followed the sound until she spied a small, flitting creature. She was certain that bird had not been here before. She was outraged that her nice, large meal has shrunk. If there had been something else around to eat, she might have given up chase, but since there wasn't she was filled with an angry determination. She would catch this...bizarre creature and reveal the secret of the shrinking food. She followed at some distance at first, trying to get a handle on the thing's flying patterns. It was rare that she hunted a target that shared her aerial advantage, and almost never one this small. The bird seemed to be seeking the advantage of altitude. Smart, since one of Scorn's best tricks was to go into a dive, using her ability to fall to increase her speed. But no matter. Scorn prided herself on her speed, and she would not let this tiny bird escape. Putting an extra burst of energy into her wings, she struggled to close the distance between herself and the falcon. It was difficult keeping up with its weaving and dodging, but when Scorn fancied herself close enough, she lunged and grabbed for the bird... ...and missed. She felt the brush of tail-feathers on the back of her hand as the bird dodged out of her grip. The shock of failure stalled Scorn for a bit, giving the falcon a chance to pull ahead. Further enraged, and unwilling to give into her wing's slowly approaching fatigue, she flapped harder, refusing to let the falcon escape.

[Khida]

The predator followed after, its wings clawing at the twilight sky with the effort of catching up to her. Most would have given up, gone to search for other easier prey once their advantage was lost -- or at least once the chase began to lengthen. But this one stuck to her wake as Khida continued up and out, wheeling sharply away from the river's path and over the line of trees. She could see it at the edge of her vision, a hazy shadow of dark wings just behind and below her. A change in that motion -- she could never have said quite what -- spurred the falcon into a sudden twist to one side, and she felt something further disturb the air behind her. A snatch at her tail, Khida thought it might have been, inasmuch as she thought about it at all. The predator slowed after its miss, falling back and below of her flight, and Khida took advantage of the extra distance she now had -- not to escape, but to turn the tables. The falcon turned a tighter circle than her larger pursuer might, coming around for her first solid look at the creature. She didn't dwell on its appearance, but saw that it surged forward again, still intent upon her. In response, the falcon dropped towards it, shrieking outrage and alarm the whole way down, in the favored tactic of smaller birds everywhere. The creature's great wings provided a fine target as she dove at it, hemming in its space and making a general nuisance of herself. If her talons raked across it at any point, so much the better, but she didn't make a very active effort to do harm -- tangling with it would be dangerous to her. Khida's primary objective was just to harass it into going away, if she could.

[Scorn]

Scorn's heart jumped in alarm as the kamikaze bird screeched at her. She was directly under the bird, and she couldn't get a good look at what is was trying to do, so she did something on reflex that she didn't know she could do. She flipped herself around in the air so that she was facing upwards, coasting along on the back of her wings. If she hadn't been distracted by the attacking bird, she would have been terrified at the complete instability of her position. Scorn tried to grab at the bird as it flapped around her, but she was wobbling unsteadily in the air, and the bird clearly had superior maneuverability, and though the Zith's claws got close a few times, she could never quite get a hold. The falcon's talons raked Scorn's wing lightly, and she flinched, which brought her wing in closer to her body, which removed her ability to glide... In the split second when she felt her balance beginning to completely upset, she flailed her arms wildly, knowing that she couldn't grab the bird, but perhaps she could hit it hard enough to stun it. That might just buy her enough time to right herself and catch the shrinking meat creature for good. She wasn't sure whether she'd hit the bird or not, but soon it was too late to matter. It took her several feet and a few ticks of falling to get her wings back into the proper orientation. She flapped higher, wheeling around, keeping her ears focused on the sound of that tiny heartbeat. She wanted to find this curious creature, and make it reveal the secret of the travel-sized meat package.

[Khida]

The winged creature flipped itself over on its back, presenting its reaching, grabbing arms towards the falcon. She shied away from those hands, diving at the great expanse of black wing which extended beyond the reach of its arms. Khida flapped up again as she needed to for more altitude, weaving around the predator, harassing one wing or the other in no specific rhythm except however seemed like it might keep the creature off-balance. All she really wanted was for it to lose interest and go away. Off-balance, it seemed to be -- upside down, flailing, and finally faltering into a plummet. Khida watched it drop away with a momentary flash of relief, albeit one she didn't give in to beyond stretching her wings out for a brief glide. That bit of rest was most welcome -- but as she watched the creature fall, she also saw it right itself, coming about in what seemed to be a survey of the horizon. Did it search for her? Was it not ready to give up yet? The peregrine, too, switched her effort to gaining more altitude, wishing for the summer thermals -- she could have soared up on an interior arc, gaining altitude far faster. But though the sky continued to lighten, it was still a long ways from being warm or sunny enough to raise those spiraling columns of air. Khida had only her own muscle with which to loft herself upwards. She wasn't certain yet if the creature would come after her again, but if it did, this time the peregrine thought she might try to outspeed it. If she could find a place worth attempting to escape to... OOCBetween the fact that Scorn is belly-up, Khida knows very well that hands grab, the (probable) relative size of arm vs. wing vs. peregrine, and everybody being in motion every which-a-way -- I just don't see wild flailing connecting...

[Scorn]

Obviously, flying upside-down was not working for Scorn. She’d have to try something else. She finally zeroed in on the falcon's tiny, rapid heartbeat, and saw it trying to fly higher. Well, that wasn't likely to work; Scorn's wings were much bigger, and capable of much harder flapping. She followed the bird upwards, slowly gaining. The bird's effort was consumed with gaining altitude, so there was much less weaving and dodging than before. The short distance her prey had gained during her distraction would not be enough to keep Scorn away. Scorn noticed she was breathing harder when she was about a couple yards from the falcon. It was a little unusual; she was sure she'd flown this much before without getting the slightest bit tired. Still, she was too determined to catch this stubborn bird to let a little thing like tired-ness to get in the way. Besides, it would soon be worth it. She was so close now. Another few ticks and the falcon would be in arms reach. She could just reach out and grab it...

[Khida]

It was getting closer, too close; her head start was shrinking very fast. Khida needed to do something else, or it would just catch up with her... She had yet to pick out a good hiding-place on the ground; the brush around the river didn't seem nearly stout enough to provide shelter. And the rest of the environs were all just water or grass... But she couldn't keep going up, and sideways was sure not to provide an escape, either -- so that left only down. Accordingly, the falcon folded over and aimed herself towards the earth far below -- -- only to be grabbed out of the air by a desperately reaching gray-furred hand, fingers across shoulder and chest, holding one wing against her side. The other flailed as the raptor hissed, trying to snap at the offending appendage, claw at the arm behind it, or otherwise do anything which would influence the predator to let go.

[Scorn]

Scorn made the grab, fully expecting to miss. So when her claws closed around soft, fleshy bird-body, she was so surprised that it took her a moment to recover. She immediately slowed her reckless ascent and settled into a glide, keeping both hands on the bird. When it bit and scratched, she growled at the minor but annoying pain, and squeezed the bird more tightly to discourage it from further rebellion. She frowned at the thing, trying to figure out how she could unlock the secrets of the much bigger meatbag inside. She'd never be able to eat a small animal again without wondering whether it was hiding more somewhere. The Zith landed in the grass next to the water, keeping a firm grip and both eyes on her prey. She tried shaking it first, waving the bird vigorously back and forth in hopes that might somehow trigger the transformation. When that failed, she sat and frowned, trying to think of what else she could try. If only there were some way she could communicate her intentions to the bird. If only she could order it around like a slave. "Bird. More meat. Make happen more meat." She shook the bird a few more times half-heartedly as she spoke the words, but she doubted anything was going to work. She decided she might as well give up and just eat what she had. She moved to take a bite out of its wing at the shoulder.