Open [Temple of the Moon] Food for Thought

[Tessa Bane]

Tessa snapped the bone she had been playing with in half. Both of the strangers has caught onto her now, and they would probably figure her out unless she did something more.. Animalistic. Of course, running away would work, but that would mean leaving the strangers, and Tessa was far from ready to do that. She would have much preferred to keep taunting the boy, but now he stood by the female, showing no signs of intimidation anymore.

The female extended her hand, as if trying to offer friendship. But Tessa coiled back, she still didn't particularly like the girl, since she had stopped her fun with the boy, but it was obvious now, they had put two and two together.
Sighing, Tessa thought over the odds. It would be freezing, but the only way to have any more fun would be to shift. If she stayed as a cat, the female might attack, or worse, they might go away. I wish I had brought a coat.

Tessa knocked the female's hand away with her nose, if clothing ripped during the shift, then chances are having a hand in the way wouldn't be good. Tearing someone's arm off probably wasn't the best way to make friends.
Shifting takes less than a tick, but it always felt like an eternity when others were watching.
A swirl of white lights enveloped the cat, and soon the animal was gone, in its place, Tessa stood, shivering fiercly in the winter night air.

OOCSorry it's short. I didn't really want to drag out the shifting to the point that it got boring, and its loud here.

[Keph]

He crossed his arms, eyebrows skeptical as the woman attempt to cajole the cat with a soothing voice. Watching her, he couldn’t help but think he wouldn’t have trusted her, but he was always naturally dubious. It was a strange thing to be in Lhavit.

The cat flinched from the woman’s outstretched hand—he knew it—and, after bumping away her hand, was covered by a veil of white that spun and swirled.

It felt like a malevolent hand had curled its fingers around his heart; it seized and panicked. What was happening to the cat? This wasn’t normal—he knew that.

The fleeting moment passed, and in what used to be a nebulous white was a scraggly-looking girl with blonde hair and a smattering of freckles. Her eyes were the bright green eyes Keph had seen on the cat.

He hadn’t realized his jaw had dropped until his mouth snapped shut with a sharp intake of breath. He had no words to describe what he’d just seen—it was his first time seeing a Kelvic—and the previous encounter that resulted in a dead rabbit had been weighted with much more meaning.

Animals killed for sustenance. What about this one?

“You’re . . . what the hell?” His eyebrows were furrowing together in a look that couldn’t be described by anything pleasant.

[Krisa]

The cat burst into lights spectacularly. “So I was right…” She muttered to herself. The change was so quick, but it was certainly pretty.

She stared at the naked woman in front of her with wide eyes “A Kelvic…” Krisa finished the boy’s sentence “It’s dreadfully cold out here” She said “Would you like to borrow my coat?” She asked her, beginning to take it off to reveal a long sleeved top underneath “You’ll catch your death out here” Her voice was kept soft and kind. “Did you turn just so you could talk to us? Well I’m flattered.” She chuckled softly, and offered the coat to her, keeping her eyes strictly on the cat kelvic’s eyes, not allowing them to wonder too far downwards, out of common decency.

“If you were wondering, I wasn’t really going to use a knife against you.” Krisa assured her “Not unless you began clawing at my face or something.” Krisa smiled reassuringly “Do uh, both of you have names?” She asked laughing at the fact that they hadn’t been given yet “I’m Krisa.” She introduced herself “And I think we best be going back now, assuming the two of you have nothing more to do out here, why don’t you join me?” Boy, she was in a good mood tonight. Maybe Leth had given her strength under his moonlight.

She hoped the girl would at least take her coat, or shift back. She didn’t want to see her shivering like that. It was funny. Her offer of friendship when the Kelvic was an animal was virtually the same as this gesture.

[Tessa Bane]

Sorry!You would not believe how sorry I am for the wait. I got tied up with another character, but finally, here's my post.

Tessa’s frozen nerves warmed up again as the man swore, like had never seen a Kelvic shift before.
The sight of his shock entertained her a bit, and a quiet chuckle escaped her mouth. The woman seemed less surprised, as if she had suspected the cat since the beginning. That took a bit of the fun away, though the woman did offer her a coat.
Tessa took the clothing gratefully, wrapping the article around her nude body. The coat offered some protection from the cold, though she still wished she had brought some extra clothes. She allowed the woman to go on about the cold, her shifting, and finally, introductions.
As the warmth returned to her shoulders and her jaw stopped jittering, Tessa trusted herself to speak.
“My name is Tessa..” Her eyes shifted to the man, and she cracked an almost devilish cat-like smile. “I hope I scared you. That was the most fun I’ve had in seasons.” It was true. After the summer and fall days had passed with nothing but Marsh and Marigold to talk to, some entertainment was nice.
Tessa’s eyes wandered as the woman continue idly chatting, at some point Tessa caught her name, Krissy.. Krista.. Something like that. Names had never been her forte. Krisa. That was it.
Not wanting to seem rude for not paying attention, Tessa clenched her jaw to stop the chattering and continued on with her chatter, briefly crouching to the ground first to pick up the small rabbit skull, picked clean and nothing more than a bone.
“I agree, going somewhere where it isn’t freezing seems like a great idea right now.” Looking around a bit, Tessa realized it would be a bit harder to find her way back in human form, with new height and less mobility. Bushes would be harder to trek through, trees would be harder to avoid. Shrugging off the coat again, Tessa handed it to Krisa and nodded. “I like fur more than linen, sorry.”
She knew shifting many times would be unwise, but having just eaten, energy was not a problem. Laying the rabbit skull back onto the ground, Tessa was enveloped in more lights, once again replaced with a bobcat. Most of the talking was done, anyways.
Nudging her head against the man’s boot, the rabbit skull once again in its place - Her teeth - Tessa waiting for the pair of stranger’s signal to move on.

[Lucias]

He walked briskly up the hill sighing heavily. The Temple of the Moon basked in the moon's light. Lit like a wonderous gem, Lucias made his way up the winding trail. While he was physically young, his body was weak enough to pass for a frail old man. Because he spent little time doing anything that would strain him, he had little muscle. His lab coat flapped even faster in the wind as he quickened his pace. His task would almost be complete. 'I just need a small sample of the sacred water from the temple and then the next phase of my plan can begin. If this works out of course.' He thought to himself continued trudging up the hill unto he reached the entrance.

'Hopefully those pesky priestesses don't interfere.' Before he entered the temple Lucias picked up two large stones and hid them inside his coat. Trying to move stealthily into the sanctuary, he tiptoed. Until he noticed the small group that consisted of a cougar or some other cat thing who shaped shifted into a nude woman with fiery red hair, a beautiful woman with flowing blonde hair, and a handsome man with nice dark hair. The shapeshifter is the one who caught his attention though. He could not remember the name of the species but it was a rarity for a scientist like him to come across one. Ah well, it was unimportant. He reminded himself of his mission. The mission was of the upmost importance.

He silently walked past them and made his way into the temple. So far it looked like there was only one Chandra on duty but she seemed to be in a deep prayer. He continued tiptoeing until he stumbled and fell flat on his face against the cold stone floor. Bumping his head, he groaned and sat up. The Chandra looked startled and ran over to help him up. 'Alright new plan.'

"Sorry to disturb you priestess. I just came here to worship our..." He inwardly groaned as he forgot the gods name. "god of the moon." Finishing awkwardly, he stood up with the help of the woman.

"Of course, please come up and worship near the waters. Many people say they see the face of Leth in them." She gently pushed him over towards the edge of the pool. 'So far so good.' He kneeled down right next to the edge of the pool and drew out his waterskin from inside his cloak and dipped it into the water.

"Hey you can't do that! These are sacred waters." She exclaimed rather loudly.

"Listen lady, I don't want to hurt you but I will if I need to. Back off." He growled as he pulled out on of the large rocks from his pocket. She backed off thanks to his intimidating threat and he was able to draw some water from the pool. Standing up he turned around to stare the Chandra in the eyes. "Interfere and suffer the consequences." Then strode out of the oddly colored temple and back into the wild with the priestess's eyes boring into the back of his head.

Clutching the rock and waterskin tightly, he saw the group was still there but the nude woman had now shapeshifter back into that large cat again. He speed up knowing he didn't want to get questioned by the group. Until he thought that he might be able to use them.

"Hey you travelers!" Rushing over to them while hiding his new sacred water pouch, he continued. "What are you doing? May I join your group?" Lucias, being to antisocial to understand how forthcoming and plain odd he was acting, awaited patiently with a slightly devilish grin settling on the corners of his mouth.