Completed Harvest and Heritage (Artur)

[Inoadar]

xxxxxxx46th of Spring, 514

Inoadar

There were times that the best way to show your competency was to stay out of the way those with training. The two men were resorting to small talk to pass the time now. But neither seemed well practiced at it. Preparations were finished now and it was a matter of waiting out the ferry trip to shore.

Inoadar felt it had been unbelievable the way this excursion had fallen into place, considering how spontaneous his impulse to hire a hunter had been. It was not as though he had seen a number of cards advertising hunters on the job boards at The Spot. He just happened to be there when the thought had hit him to look for one.

Kelvic blood continued to elude him as far as any consistent source was concerned. He thought he'd solved that problem with the hiring of Ariella, a white tiger Kelvic he'd found being attacked by wolves. She had made herself available for a short time. He'd even paid her to be his shop assistant and bodyguard, in exchange for allowing blood draws when necessary. But she'd disappeared not long after he'd gotten started with production.

In a town like Ravok, where Kelvic research was a lucrative and ongoing enterprise, the main component in the chemical used to keep them subdued and passive was very profitable. It was the poison "Wildleash", and Inoadar found it ironic that the Kelvic's own blood was fundamental in its creation. He had yet to seek a contract to provide this compound to the KRI, but once he acquired a steady source of blood, he hoped to do so.

And so his inquiries at The Spot. And the swift direction to the young man with him now. He'd given his name as Ghahinder Telemnar, and said he worked on commission for the KRI as a hunter of Kelvics. He had no information to relay as to where the KRI got the drug they used to force the Kelvics into submission, but he knew they spoke often of the need to conserve what supply they had.

Inoadar took this to mean their supply was not local. All the better. He would not only quote under the present cost of processing, he would be a far handier supplier for the facility than their present source. They'd be fools not to accept his offer. And his hireling looked every part the competent hunter. He had a number of nets and bolas, rope and spring traps, lures and tracking paraphernalia, as well as camouflage clothing, scent masking oils and decoys. And collars of every size.

As long as they didn't end up getting some little field mouse or bird Kelvic, he'd be very satisfied. He needed it to be a good sized animal to be able to draw significant amounts of blood from it. Fortunately, he had several doses of Wildleash on hand to aid in the capture. It had, in fact, been the deciding factor in recruiting the young hunter.

x

[Artur]

He’d arrived at the lakeshore only but around a bell or go and regretted every tick of it since, he knew good and well that by taking the so called “ferry” over the lake he would end up sick, for some reason no matter how many differences coexisted with it, Artur always wound up rather sick from the motion of the boat he would ride in when traveling across any large body of water. The very act of travel led him to not break down or anything, but more so feel queasy until he could no longer manage to contain himself anymore. Thus when he arrived to the shore he did so with a nasty taste in his mouth after he’d lost the contents within his stomach. He hated boats. Almost enough to want to cry when he would reach land, the trip to Ravok from the shore yesterday was a firm indication to his new owner Gyatt.

Yes. Only yesterday did he finally manage to be released from KRF and all the more regretted every day being in there, yet even now he still had a debt to repay and would continue to do so until he could have a free conscious and in turn free the child he’d made in the breeding program they forced upon him. Now of course Artur was sent to the shore to collect some ingredients that were needed for the kitchen, mainly herbs like parsley and the like since they were commonly grown in places near the lake. One just needed a proper eye, or nose, to find them and then sure enough traces would be found somewhere within the freshly grown greenery of trees and shrubs that Artur plowed through carelessly. For some reason he still felt odd twinges between his legs as though whatever operation took place… had an undesirable effect. Though Gyatt was good enough to help the bear understand that he was healing from the operation, what became all the more evidently clear was the fact Artur’s recovery would be a long one. More on the mental side rather than the physical. That made no difference for the bear, he could be considered “jaded” for all he cared. What mattered most was saving the one thing he had a personal connection to, and in order to do that he had to settle a debt with a savior before getting anywhere else.

As he sniffed about curiously in his human form Artur could faintly trace the scent of parsley, even a little bit of cumin in some places. That would surely add to the amount resupply Gyatt needed within the kitchen, if there was one thing Artur was significantly good with it was working in a kitchen. Yet his eyes weren’t what they used to be it seems, though he could easily see what he was doing everything at times seemed to blur. Lines that defined detail generally softened because of his age transition, thus he would often be seen squinting when he would look at something. He definitely knew the smell of cumin when he found it though; it always had that unique scent that remained mild but potent in taste, especially when one cooked poultry. As Artur knelt down on his knees he looked at the flowery herb that looked to be cumin, hands gently grasped around the soft poky herb as he tried to examine for seeds. He wasn’t entirely experienced in collecting herbs but he remembered well what Gyatt said, stay within distance to the lake and the docks and he should find a sufficient supply of things needed.

All the same he had to do a good job, which meant going the extra mile for the teacher. So instead of worrying about gathering cumin seeds he just took the flowers off save for a few, and placed them within the satchel he was provided. Little did he suspect he was being hunted by someone else within the area, someone that had darker intentions rather than just a friendly confrontation. When Ino and his hunting companion would discover and follow the trail Artur naively laid out for them, they would discover his location within a quarter of a bell and see the Kelvic in his black short-sleeved shirt and beige shorts provided for him upon release from KRF. Though he looked human enough the curiosity the bear had led him to pick up the traces in the air, scents of two people that were nearby as he looked over his shoulder in wonder. If anything the fact he could pick up their scents as they were coming would prove indication enough that he was in fact a Kelvic, their game that they would be hunting for today.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

The two men continued to examine tracks as they came across them. Both human tracks and those of large animals. Ghaninder waved Inoadar over, pointing out a set of tracks that seemed to break heedlessly through some ground shrubs. It was enough of a telltale sign that the experienced Kelvic hunter felt it promising.

"It isn't as though a regular human couldn't do this," the hunter stated, "it's that he wouldn't. He'd go around it. There are no tracks of any pursuit that would drive a man to rush through here unnecessarily." He crouched down and looked at some indentations in the turf in the midst of the shrubs. "This one has been picking these herbs here...Pretty insightful to find them here. See how the tracks end without going all the way through."

He stood and looked around, gauging something. "I mean, he would have had to know they were here somehow, but see how the tracks only approach this clump from this side. He has to have detected their presence by scent alone. If this looked like a cultivated plot, I'd rethink this, but clearly this is a natural growth here." he started checking off a variety of signs to support his conclusion; soil tendencies and the lack of other herbs that would be added to the plot to reduce acidity inherent in the soil after cumin was picked; fertilizer enzymes to make the soil more ideal for herbs and less so for the wild grass; the thickness of the mulch layer, which led to moss.

Inoadar didn't think he'd have been so interested in such a textbook recital, but herbal knowledge had become more and more important to his work lately and he took a few notes. The hunter backed out of the clump and looked for the backtracks. He found them almost immediately, "Yeah, he went this way. let's go."

Inoadar asked him how he knew it was a male. The hunter snorted as though it was a stupid question and said, as though to a complete novice, "Look at the size of the prints." Inoadar could only see a rough indent, lacking in sufficient definition to determine where the toes and heel ended. He didn't think for a second about how he'd say 'man' when referring to a human, but 'male' when it was a Kelvic. He shrugged and assumed that Ghahinder knew what he was doing.

They approached the top of a hill and Ghahinder waved a 'slow down' to Inoadar behind him and crouched to look more covertly over the top. He held his hand out in a silent prearranged signal for Inoadar to hand him his sighting lens. Inoadar stayed out of sight while the hunter looked down into the lower area on the other side.

After a chime, the hunter humped back to Inoadar. "Yeah, he's a Kelvic. You can see him sniffing the air. I'm pretty sure he knows we're here." He paused for a moment thinking, then shrugged out of his coat. "Look, I'm going to go around the far side. Wait two chimes then just go ahead and walk over the hill like you're not trying to hide anything. My jacket will have my scent on it. It might fool him long enough not to realize there are two of us. He'll think both scents are coming from you alone. If he stands his ground, just go up and ask him if this is his coat. Then use that Wildleash on him. If he runs, I'll catch him with the bolas."

A moment later Ghahinder had retraced a few steps and stared to circle around out of sight. Inoadar counted off a rough estimate of two chimes then started to whistle softly; gaining volume as he walked over the hill. He went ahead and waved to the man below him in the vale. He held the jacket out before him as sign that it was something he wanted to ask him about. After getting about halfway to the stranger, there had been no sign of him running. But he didn't know how long it would last.

"Excuse me sir..." Inoadar called to him, "I was wondering if you'd lost your coat...this coat here." he said, motioning with it as he gripped his cane to prepare to unlock the blowgun portion of it.

x

[Artur]

His nose not only caught the scent of two people arriving but now sounds of one whistling filled his ears as he turned to look behind him, past a few bushes within the vale a man seemed to be walking down to his location, a jacket in hand as he appeared to have waved towards the Kelvic. Artur was docile at the approach but for some reason he couldn’t point out why exactly this man, one man, had a coat that completely smelled different from his own. I wonder who this is. He raised an eyebrow out of curiosity when the man approached him about halfway now, a question finally brought on about the jacket as to whether or not Artur might’ve lost it.

"Um… No, I don’t own a jacket. Must belong to another person." He shrugged with a slight frown, as in a manner of small disappointment that he couldn’t be of any real help. He didn’t feel bad or torn up about it honestly, but not being able to help a decent person kind of bummed him a little. At least he thought the man decent, if he were trying to figure out who that jacket belonged to. Honestly Artur wasn’t sure about the man, nor did he really pay much mind to him in that particular moment. He had a job to do after all and that involved getting the herbs he collected to Gyatt for kitchen use. The bear was rather naïve enough to turn his back to the man for a few chimes, careful to grasp a few more pickings of cumin as he placed them within the messenger pack provided for him.

Why do I get the feeling he’s not just here asking about the coat? It was odd indeed that someone out of the blue would ask about a simple coat, out here next to the wilderness near the lakeshore nonetheless. Usually that stuff would happen inside the city rather than outside, so when the bear actually did take that moment to consider it he found that the act made little to no sense. "You might want to try somewhere like in town, if someone left their jacket here…" He turned once more to see the man had not only closed in slower, but the cane he held looked to be prepped for something. Beating Artur maybe? Either way the bear didn’t like the appearance at all, for some reason his gut told him to run away from this man.

He was intimidated nonetheless. It was almost like that time when he was taken by slavers in the Cobalt Mountains, their approach slow yet their strike sudden in their attempt to capture the Kelvic. Finally Artur seemed to start taking small measures to run, a few side steps to his right as he looked at the ground next to him. It was an act, a pretend that he took interest in something there. For all this man could’ve guessed there were more herbs the bear was about to gather, yet Artur couldn’t tell for sure if the stranger knew exactly what the Kelvic’s intent truly was. "Or… maybe they just didn’t want it. So maybe you can keep it, or give it to someone who really needs it." He continued on for distractive purposes, about ready to make his leave of this man as the knot in his stomach twisted further.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

The Kelvic before him was not the only one with instincts. Inoadar could see the side glances the fellow kept flashing his direction as he stepped away with forced nonchalance.

"You might want to try somewhere like in town, if someone left their jacket here…" he offered, as if he didn't realize how unlikely it was that someone from town would come all the way out here and then not notice the absence of their jacket on the way back. "Or… maybe they just didn’t want it. So maybe you can keep it, or give it to someone who really needs it." he added.

Inoadar didn't know what sort of animal this Kelvic morphed into. "Perhaps you're right." he began, as he slipped the jacket to his other arm to free up the cane/blowgun. He halted clumsily for just an instant as the Kelvic stole another glance his way to see the cane in a more prominent position near Inoadar's mouth.

Their eyes locked. If the Kelvic started to run for any other reason than to get away, Inoadar would not have believed it. He did not know if Ghahinder was in position to cut him off, but he felt confident that he could nail him with a blown dart. He raised the blowgun, and was immediately dismayed to feel an unexpected tug on the jacket. He focused on himself long enough to see that the far end of the blowgun had caught in the cuff of one of the jacket's sleeves.

He wasted valuable seconds trying to simply pull harder, to realize that one of the jacket's fashion epaulets was likewise caught on the collar of his own Nettle Cloak. Somehow his twisting to aim had triggered the spring-spikes in the collar and they had sprouted to transfix the jacket. He cursed, knowing he'd probably just soaked a dose of one of his poisons into the shoulder of Ghahinder's jacket.

He ripped the jacket free, snarling at the realization that the Kelvic had a head start on him and was heading for some trees. He sprinted several steps then stopped to catch and time his breathing to take a shot at the zig-zagging figure. He now assumed that the fellow was not an animal that would be formidable in a hand to hand situation; or a very fast one either. 'Probably a sheep or something.' he smirked as he lined up the shot.

The timing was right, the distance, the lack of wind, the anticipated zig after zag. He blew into the cane confidently...Only to see that his target had stumbled, or guessed, or lost balance, or something, just enough to NOT continue his zig zag pattern for one crucial series of steps.

The dart sailed past his torso to be lost in the shrubs bordering the tree line. Inoadar roared a curse. By the time he could load another dart, the Kelvic would be well into the trees.

x

[Artur]

The moment had been seized by the Kelvic as he noticed that the stranger not only raised his cane but seemed to get it caught within the jacket, therefore stunting his motive just long enough to provide the bear his escape. Artur had taken off for his life scared out of his mind now that he knew this man had other intentions, though they remained unknown he didn't dare try to figure anything out as of now. He had been in the same situation as before, cornered to the point where he couldn't resist, and then captured like a rat as he didn't have it within him to fight back.

Artur darted in zigzags of course and did his best to use the trees and the shrubbery as cover, his mind raced along with his body as he already felt his heart nearly pounding out of his chest. He could get away from this man. He had to get away from this man. If he intended to take Artur back to KRF then the bear would fight back to no end, because there was no absolute way he would allow someone to take him there once again. He stumbled as his foot caught a root at the tree, and then fell forward to catch himself while something flew past him. Some sort of projectile that he knew wasn't good news on his part. What was this man after? What did he want with Artur?

The bear wasn't going to ask obviously, nor even wonder about it since he had to get away. All that mattered now was him running, getting back on his feet and running as fast as he could through more of the undergrowth. As he did this though it looked like the man wasn't alone, as another came out before him to bar his path. Bad idea. Though Artur stopped dead in his tracks with horror in his eyes he was officially a cornered rat, which made the nightmare he'd lived through once already seem like it happened again. No! Not again! I won't let them take me! He didn't want to fight. He couldn't fight! He wasn't good at it for one, two violence was never his thing... but he had to. There was no choice anymore.

The bear threw his bag of collect essentials aside and glanced behind him, the other man wasn't too far behind it seems. They definitely had him cornered here. There was no point in making idol threats like the last time, if anything Artur would have to follow through with his intimidating threats. "Stay back!" He demanded to the both of them as he grasped at the bottom of the shirt, he was rather quick to roll it off his torso and throw it on the ground. The second one that blocked Artur definitely took a defensive stance now, likely aware that he was by no means small prey for their game. Next he just unfastened the belt around his waste and allowed the shorts to merely loosen, mind already focused on the next part of his gambit as he set in motion the next move.

By the time the man with the cane would finally be close enough to approach them he would find not only a shirtless Artur, but a sudden flash of bright light to envelope the bear. It first highlighted the skin and hair until at last it glowed with a vast radiance to nearly blind the eye, and as the shorts seemed to lay at the ground right next to the shirt the light above seemed to disperse as the veil faded away to reveal his alternate appearance. With a loud and mighty roar straight towards the man with the cane, Artur stood at an amazing height on his hind legs and dropped to be on all fours with a thud on the ground, big brown eyes that once held resemblance to strong innate curiosity now held fierce wild desperation within them.

He was determined to make sure he wouldn't be caught today, and would by all means strive to see he wouldn't fall victim to these brigands.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

Inoadar smirked as he heard the man issue what was apparently supposed to be some sort of warning. Half dressed, fear in his eyes, his words were a joke, "Stay Back!" he said as he started stripping off his clothes.

Serious or not, he plainly intended to shift to his animal form. Inoadar's only real concern was that he was going to become some sort of quick, small creature that would get lost in the underbrush. Inoadar had once been attacked in his own shop by a panther Kelvic, so he felt sure that any Kelvic that had any sort of threatening animal form would not be running away like this, but attacking.

His second erroneous assumption was that this creature had no experience with Wildleash poison, which also supported his conclusion that this could not be a powerful animal form. He launched into a sprint to try to close as much distance to get a better shot at whatever little critter the Kelvic would become. He had not been looking at the panther Kelvic on that day, so he didn't really consider if the size of the flash indicated the size of the resulting animal form.

This was a large flash. And a tall one as well; much taller than a man. Inoadar thought for a second that perhaps the nature of the magic was that the light came down from above, like lightning. But he ignored that detail, shielding his eyes so they would not be too dazzled to see the little creature he expected to see standing where the man-shape had been.

Jut for an instant, he was confused. His focus was only on the first couple of feet above ground level. And he would have sworn the man must have turned into a pair of trees. There were two massive brown "trunks" stretching far above the narrow patch of ground he was looking at. The spine shaking roar was perfectly timed with Inoadar's upward gaze to see a monolithic force of nature. It would surely take five or six of him at least to match the bulk of this beast before him.

Even when it dropped to all fours with a ground shaking thump, it was very nearly eye level with him. Inoadar's eyes bugged. His jaw dropped. The cane was forgotten, the Wildleash was forgotten, the purpose of being ashore was forgotten. There was only the necessity of getting far, far away from this monster. Instinct drove the thought into his mind that this beast had tricked him, pretended to be afraid, to lure him here. To crush him, tear him apart, devour him.

The bear might have won the day right there, if not for Ghahinder, the hunter. Inoadar's focus briefly caught his movement behind the bear. He was not running, he was not staring in awe. He was maneuvering for position to throw his bola! Inoadar backed up slowly in fear and disbelief. The hunter was making some gesture at him with his fist. But it was not registering. All he could think was that the hunter must be mad to actually be intending to toss a little bola at this monstrosity.

Then he actually yelled, "SHOOT, YOU FOOL!" and hurled the bola at the bear's legs. Inoadar finally realized that the gesture Ghahinder had been making was miming the blowgun at his mouth and blowing. Inoadar dared not take his eyes off the bear as he began lifting the shaking blowgun to his mouth.

x

[Artur]

He knew... He knew, he knew, he knew. He just knew it would unfold into this sort of manner and likely somehow knew what the outcomes would be, he would either be caught or go free with injuries all around. He didn't want to hurt people, even if they meant ill towards him. He was a coward once. Unable to stand up for himself as he had no backbone, that is to say now of course he developed one proper thanks to his time imprisoned in one of the worst places to be in. With his eyes deadlocked onto this man with the cane he knew just what he'd done, a successful attempt at intimidating his pursuers as they finally realized what his second form really was. Where they might've thought him easy prey then they now found a strong and magnificent predator before their eyes. One that was never meant to be angered lest they wished to face almost fifteen hundred pounds of weight and muscle from the creature.

The one behind him shouted to shoot something as a whirl seemed to speed through the air, Artur fiercely growled as he spun around to try and stop his attacker from doing whatever was about to happen. Too late. The strange object he used had flung through the air and caught the bear by surprise, and wrapped around only one of his hind legs, lucky for him, as the bear twisted in retaliation towards the item. He hadn't the time to worry about it now, whatever it was that rested on his leg would have to wait. He had to get these two away. GET AWAY!!!! The words were never louder in his head before as he tried to charge onward towards the hunter, unaware that the cane man had his sights set on the bear now.

Though Artur stumbled because the bola got in the way of his leg, somehow it tangled to where he nearly tripped, he didn't give up on his approach to intimidate the hunter away as he roared as fiercely as he could. He was completely on the defensive but bound to lose his sanity at any given moment, already on the verge of a black out to where he would maul anything in his path if given the chance. Lucky for the bastards present they had something to help them. Artur felt the sting of something fierce within his hind region and he spun around to the man with another terrible snarl, the cane brought up to the mouth as it remained still only for a moment before it resumed a continuous quake. He had to lunge. The bear had no choice but to lunge.

Yet even when he started the warmth of his blood felt on fire all of a sudden, before he knew it he felt part of himself lose grip over his abilities. He was no longer in control of the shapeshifting, it was just like the lunatics at KRF had done to him. He knew it well. Some sort of solution they injected into him before tests! It was the same sort of feeling he felt upon injection, the same strange fiery sensation that boiled from within his center as it radiated outward throughout his entire body. The bear's fur became outlined as light embedded itself from within his skin, then pour outwards with a sudden wild flash that transitioned him back into a human that remained on all fours as he roared. His roar in turn transitioned into an out loud cry of torture as he clutched the ground harshly. His skin glimmered as another shift was imminent once more, his will strongly faded as he fought the coming transformation to the best of his abilities.

No good.

The light purged outward from his flesh and veiled him once again as it soon replaced his human appearance with that of a bear once more, he retaliated from it by rising to his hind legs with paws brought to his muzzle. It was the present sign that he was clearly disoriented from the poison, and desperately trying not to let himself go as he quickly lost his ability to morph between human and animal.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar

It was entirely to Ghahinder's credit that Inoadar regained his focus. The hunter's nerve, to stand his ground with nothing more than trust that Inoadar would do his part, shamed the poisoner into action. He was still in awe of the sheer power of the animal before him, but he shook off the apprehension that had paralyzed him. He'd actually been afraid that the Wildleash wouldn't even affect the giant creature.

Had he not seen, and been sure, that it WAS a Kelvic, he might have abandoned the hunter to his fate. But WHAT a Kelvic! It seemed a primal force of Rhysol's own chaos. But his respect for the domain of Vayt took the forefront of his thoughts as the poison took over, reducing the massive creature to the same fluctuating, flashing, helpless, form-flopping victim that he'd seen lesser Kelvic animals fall to. He felt a sudden flash of regret to have done it to such a magnificent animal, but he shook that off.

The only other animal that had impressed him as much was the white tiger Kelvic, Ariella. But he had fought wolves at her side, so she had befriended him. It had even her blood that had been the supply that had allowed him to finish the experimentation and find the proper formula. He stifled a grimace at the thought of how she would feel about that as he quickly made his way to the side of the now-naked humanoid to collect some blood.

He did as he always did, opening the dart wound more with his dagger and squeezing and massaging the flesh to work a hefty volume of blood into his prepared vial. It contained an anti-dessicant to keep it from drying up. Then he took out a bandage as the Kelvic began to stir and wrapped it around the man's thigh where the dart had struck.

The hunter scowled at this; making some rude comments on how close Inoadar got to the Kelvic's genitals in the process. "Why are you bothering with that? He'll heal, for shyke's sake! He's waking up, man! Put the damned collar on him."

"There's no hurry." Inoadar responded casually, "It'll be a bell or two before he can really think or act aggressively again." He moved to sit in front of the Kelvic as the naked man sat up, blinking curiously and looking around. "I've got hundreds of mizas' worth here already."

"But you'll never get him to the KRI in a couple bells. Are you going to hit him with that stuff again? With the collar, he can't switch. That stuff has gotta be expensive." the hunter argued.

Inoadar noted the sudden tension displayed by the Kelvic at the mention of the Research Institute and started to follow the thought. First though, he said to Ghahinder, while still watching the Kelvic, "I'm not taking him to the KRI." Yes, clearly the reaction confirmed this creature's familiarity with that dismal place. He now looked back at Inoadar, and hope was in his eyes.

Inoadar wasn't really sure what prompted him to make such a statement. It undoubtedly stemmed from his fatalistic belief that the gods placed you in whatever life status you'd earned from your conduct in your previous life. To his mind, this had nothing to do with morality or benevolence, but in purity and drive, devotion and focus. His father had told him a tale of a captain that had stopped a his men from killing a family while they were on a raid, to prevent them from giving away their presence to local troops. Inoadar had thought he was going to hear that somehow the family had gotten the drop on the soldiers and killed them.

But the irony was of a different sort. The family kept their mouths shut, to survive their ordeal, and the raid went off without a hitch. But now the local militants decided they were traitors and killed them all horribly. All but one that is; a son who grew up consumed with vengeance and sadistic fury. His rampage across his own land made acts of wartime brutality pale by comparison.

Inoadar took to heart the lesson that morality and generosity were just concepts played by the gods to manipulate men. You could only be sure of yourself, and therefore were only obligated to act in your own interest. Of course, this frequently meant working with someone that had a common goal, but it also meant that a lethal betrayal was likely to serve you well in the end. It was only prudent to assume that your partner had the same intent.

But Inoadar had seen an odd behavior from this Kelvic. It was a mighty creature, yet when threatened, it had warned them away. And even when it had taken its powerful form, it had stood its ground to let them see what they would be tangling with. It was a strangely dignified reaction to hostility. And though Inoadar considered it a mistaken approach, it still intrigued him.

Ghahinder stood back in quiet apprehension as Inoadar went on, addressing the Kelvic directly. "You don't want to go there, do you." it was as much a statement as a question. "You've been there before haven't you. What do you call yourself?"

x

[Artur]

As the poison ran its course through Artur’s body he kept his charade of resisting ongoing but could only do so much, each flash and shift that transitioned him between human and animal had started to take its toll on his energy as he lost consciousness from the exertion. The shifts ended and he went out for what felt like many chimes, his mind locked onto the fear that he would be taken back to the facility that took him in and broke his spirit once already. Yet event that seemed to wear away some as the secondary effect of the poison seemed to prove all thought and aspect of anger, though that didn’t stop the fear from residing within his heart. He couldn’t feel any aggression nor defensive manner within his mind as he wanted to fight back, or did once until now of course seeing as how that part of his mind seemed numb somehow.

When he started to come around and stir he noticed there was a sharp prickly sensation on his thigh, a painful throb where the… whatever that thing was hit him. He became tense not from the pain but the sudden mention of KRF out of inborn instinct, a distilled fear and passionate hate for the place led the Kelvic to believe that he would indeed face another horrid trial within that place. He’d forgotten that he was of no use to the facility, but of course he would considering the fact he found himself in another situation where he nearly attacked two horrible hunters. Yet there was the sudden reassurance from the cane man that left Artur in a bit of a daze, even if his mind still felt in a haze he somehow felt surprised he would be shown mercy from this… this man. Finally it seemed as though he were being addressed by this man, a statement made out of observation from Artur’s reaction brought the bear to gaze up to the sinister character in a fearful daze. "Artur." He murmured between soft pants, still exhausted from his ordeal with the poison found within his body.

"They did things. Terrible things. Master Gyatt saved me from that place when they said…" The memory was vague but not opaque at least. "They said I was of no further use, after they did something called an operation on me." He gulped hard after he finished the statement as he waited to hear whatever this man and the hunter had to say, of course it was cruel how the facility treated their Kelvics but all the same it didn’t seem to matter to others. Artur’s story behind it wasn’t great to tell nor really worth telling, more importantly it seemed irrelevant to the current situation at hand. He was once again captive but this time to two different people, rather than the slavers that brought him to KRF in the first place. Yet they weren’t taking him to KRF, or so it seems considering the cane man said he wouldn’t. "What… do you want?" The bear managed to say between pants as he tried to push himself to his knees, the sheer will he once had though still proved exhausted from the exertion of uncontrolled shifts.