Open An odd Pair

[Vayl]

x

48th Spring, 514 AV

Vayl lightly stepped off the boat to the shore, a heavily clothed girl to his side. He had his own hood up and had an arm wrapped around her protectively. He was much taller than his companion, so although his arm held her by the shoulder, her haid was pressed against his ribcage.

Vayl's Lavender eyes paused on the ferry driver for a brief moment, there was no movement in his face or anything to betray emotion, but a brief flash of gratitude crossed over his eyes. Slowly turning to the left, he walked across the shoreline, still keeping his companion as close to him as possible. The girl seemed to cling back to him as well, as if she was unable to walk without assistance. Vayl knew that wasn't the case, but looking down at Redd it certainly looked like it.

Vayl glanced back over his shoulder. "Ok no one is around. We can talk." he pursed his lips as his gaze wondered over the shallow waves, enjoying the cool breeze. "Or if you'd prefer you can return to being a wolf." he suggested quietly, giving what he hoped would be a reassuring squeeze of comfort.

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Redd]

x

Redd had remembered to be silent on the, what Vayl had called a boat ride, silently watching the water's surface as she did. It was calming in a way, but her growling stomach was keeping her from actually enjoying the way the sun reflected off the surface of the lake.

Her wounds had begun to heal quite nicely seeing as she wasn't going out and about often enough to aggrevate them, but her fractured rib still gave her plenty of pain and she often found it a little hard to sleep at night, comforted by a small factor that Vayl hasn't snuck off in the night to plot her downfall.

Instead, she was now tucked underneath his arm, her hooded head resting gently against his rib cage, feeling just as secure as she had when she had first come into the city with him. Even when the boat had reached the port at the other end of the lake, she stuck to him like glue, not wanting to let him go too far without her.

When they stepped off and walked a fair way away from prying eyes, they came to a stop and she smiled as she heard his words about no prying eyes around. She wasn't exactly sure whether she should shift or not, she wanted to but she didn't want Vayl to feel lonely if she did. She couldn't very well talk if she was running around in her wolf form. She looked up at him and then away, looking towards the trees and instantly felt split between the two, a sigh quick upon her lips. "We should probably keep an eye out for any wolves, they have tasted my blood and is probably pretty angry that I escaped their teeth."

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Vayl frowned as Redd spoke. Concentrating on the words seemingly too much for a simple sentence, but he like listening to her voice.

"I assume these wolves are not kelvics?" he muttered, lilac eyes slowly scanning over the forest's edge.

He pursed his lips in thought, taking a deep stressed breath in, holding it, then exhaling slowly as his mind run through things over.

"It would definitely be better if we didn't run into those wolves." he mused, half to himself, half to Redd. A spark went across his eyes and he looked down at Redd, with her long flowing hair. His hand idly started stroking its length, straightening it out.

"Redd, do you smell like a human when you're human? If so stay human and the wolves won't track you down? I can show you how Symenestra hunt, and trust me, its much lazier than your method." he chuckled melodically, giving Redd a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder before letting his arm fall.

"Come on then" he smiled, looking over his shoulder, left hand already on the hilt of his Katana "This should be fun." he said softly as he strode forwards, a kind of predatory look crossed his mind very, very briefly.

----

Vayl stalked forwards softly, crouched low in the tall grass. He could see Redd's flicker of her namesake colour opposite him at the other end of the clearing. According to her nose, which he was increasingly learning to trust. There was something with blood in this clearing.

Vayl was being careful to keep half of his attention focussed on the forest behind him as well as the potential quarry ahead of himself. He was possibly more concerned about this elusive pack of wolves than he was about getting Redd something to eat. If times were hard they could always feed her fish or something similar. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than dying to wolves.

Suddenly, he was torn from his mind as he saw a flash of brown through the grass. He halted mid-step and held his breath, listening. He could hear the soft yet laboured breathing of an animal. Creeping forwards as slowly as possible, Vayl parted some of the grass, he could smell blood himself now. Just ahead of him was a deer with a horribly mangled rear leg. It must have hurt it in a fall or something, because bone was splintering out and the leg was definitely not going to be used again.

But neither will the other three he thought as he rested his left hand on his katana.

With a quite whistle of wind he performed the many-times-performed Iaedo, the unsheathing and simultaneous attack with the blade. The air making a slight disturbance, it was fast and exact, but wouldn't have hit the imaginary throat it was aimed at. No matter. That move was simply for unsheathing the blade quickly.

Using the momentum he had gained, he continued the katana's ark around to the right, spinning on his feet so he was facing away from the deer, bringing the katana's edge veering downwards. As he turned to face the deer again, completing his full spin, he brought the katana down with all his might.

The blade had been aimed at the deer's neck, but unfortunately Vayl had missed his mark. Perhaps he had been overambitious, perhaps it was the adrenaline or any other one of the innumerable reasons there could be. Either way, the tip of the blade landed a couple of inches off, directly onto the skull of the poor animal. What should have been a clean decapitation turned into a gruesome crack as the sheer force of Vayl's strike split open the skull, sending the jarring impact through his arms.

Vayl frowned and looked down at the now motionless animal. He flicked the blade sideways so his arm was extended (this was the uchia the first move he learnt, so this he WAS expert at), and sheathed the blade, now clean of blood from the uchia move.

Let's try again shall we

He took a breath, calmed his heart and slowly extended his left hand over the sheathed katana.

There was a whistle and then a wet splash. Vayl looked down at the flattened grass around his feet, and then at the severed deer's head.

He smiled. The first kill.

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Redd]

x

She watched from a far, Vayl stalking forwards and she couldn't help but allow her thoughts to flicker back to then conversation about the wolves and her scent. She couldn't honestly tell whether her scent was different in either form, but it wasn't likely, due to the wolves reaction when they had spotted her in the clearing the that male human. That human that had some how made her shift, it still puzzled her today as to how he did it.

Redd also couldn't help but think of when Vayl straightened out her hair, stroking it and she wanted nothing more then to nuzzle up to him and allow that to continue. However, he had pressed forwards and her hungry stomach had soon returned with force, but she did noticed that Vayl's lavender eyes seemed to of had a predatory gaze about them.

The scent of blood brought her back to the present and her hazel hues flickered over in the direction of her male companion, seeing him part the grass before him. He had said to watch how his kind hunt, but what exactly was his kind, he had never really specified, but he did tell her about how they come into the world. Many times had she meant to ask, but then she seemed to forget all over again and she shook her head, one of these days she will remember.

Stalking forwards herself, she too parted the grass so then her gaze could fall upon the deer that was clearly panting in the center of the clearing there it looked like it's leg had splintered. It probably fell down when it thought it was being chased by...

Her thoughts angled off as she lifted her nose to scent the air, taking a few precious seconds to make entirely sure that there were indeed no wolves around. It wouldn't surprise her if this one had been in a herd, managed to split without the wolves knowing because of the many other bigger deer and thought it got lucky. Many an injured beast always did think it was lucky til it found the teeth of another predator.

Redd's gaze snapped back into view as she watched Vayl complete a series of moves with his weapon, or as he liked to put it, katana. What was the difference anyway, all weapons had a pointy end that you poked things with to make it bleed didn't they? Upon seeing the blade's end hit the back of the animal's head with a crack, she watched the beast fall before Vayl would slice through the neck, severing the head from the rest of the body and she briefly wondered as to why he didn't do that in the first place.

The scent of blood hit her hard then and her top lip quivered, almost as if she wanted to pull it back to reveal her teeth. Instead, she slowly rose from her crouch, resisting the urge to bound forward and tear her teeth into that ripe meat and made her slow way towards Vayl and the dead animal. Smiling, she angled her head to the right upon reaching them and the question she so desperately wanted to know bubbled to her lips, anything to distract her from that delicious hunk of meat cooling on the ground. "Why didn't you go straight for the throat?"

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Vayl flashed a soft smile. Innocent and to the point as always.

"I was practising a move that I need to learn Redd. But" he winced slightly. "I missed the second time so I did it a second time. It won't make much sense to you, but once I have practised things like this enough I will be able to fight much better, seeing as I have no natural weapons like yours, other than my teeth."

His eyes clouded over and unfocussed.

"and bearing my child." he murmured oddly. The thought of Redd having his child had crossed his mind. He recoiled from the idea of.. bedding Redd. It's not that she was unattractive, it was just that.. well she was so innocent, and.. their friendship wasn't like that. It was mutual happiness, not lust. Vayl shook his head violently as if that would free him from the thought.

His eyes slid into focus to see Redd quivering, a drop of saliva on the edge of her lips.

"Redd, you can eat it you know? I'm not stopping you and I'm not going to eat it."

He smiled, removing his shoes and laying them on the ground next to his katana against a tree. Climbing the tree with little effort, evidently being able to stick to the tree's surface rather than lift himself up on branches, he climbed along upside down along a large sticking out branch, before swinging himself up to sit down on it. Looking down at Redd he gestured a small wave and smiled. "Go on, eat before it gets cold."

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Redd]

x

Redd had blinked when he mentioned that bearing his child could be a natural weapon and she angled her head at this. While it did make sense due to the fact that the mothers died during birth, she had no idea why he had even brought up the fact. However, as she watched him shake his head violently, she picked up that maybe whatever had crossed his mind was too disgusting to think of, but what exactly was too disgusting to think of exactly? She found that this was a moment where she wished that she could read minds, but alas she could not.

At the mention of eating the deer, she glanced over towards Vayl, making sure that it wouldn't offend him. Although seeing as he was now climbing a tree perhaps he didn't trust her to not eat him instead? Was he just sitting in a tree to do something while she...

That line of thought dragged off as she remembered the cooling deer and she shoved she instantly began to undress, allowing the clothes she pulled off to fall to the ground. When she was fully naked, she began the shift to borrowing her wolf form, her human form being surrounded by the pale red light.

As this light faded, she then stood in her wolf form, shaking her coat out before padding forwards with enthusiasm towards the deer. When she reached it, her powerful jaws instantly went for the stomach, her teeth sinking into the soft flesh and the moment she pulled her head back, the flesh ripped open. Blood and some of the stomach even starting to fall out of this opening.

Greedily she began to eat, savoring each mouthful that settled upon her stomach and her teeth kept attacking the dead deer for more. Of course she wouldn't be able to eat the whole thing and they didn't exactly have anything to hold the meat so then it wouldn't go bad, but an over fed wolf was better than a hungry one.

To Redd it didn't matter, in the wild whatever you couldn't eat those that were starving could have the rest, it was the rule that most predators lived by. Of course, they only lived by that, AFTER they had well and truly left the kill behind.

Occasionally, she lifted her head, taking note of the surroundings, her ears pricking forwards as she scented the air. She was being careful to remember that there was indeed wolves still around, however they didn't seem to be anywhere near this clearing, perhaps they had gotten themselves a pretty good kill, which would be a bonus.

Her tongue darted out, licking at her muzzle as her now golden eyes flickered upwards towards Vayl up in the tree. While she was still eating, her stomach was now fairly full and so her mind had focussed upon other things, such as Vayl. His actions confused her some times, but the ones that confused her the most were the ones where it seemed he was having a silent argument to himself.

Turning back to the deer, her jaws began to work at it again, but her own actions were a little more slower this time as she chewed and pulled and chewed some more. The action that most confused Redd the most though, was the violent shaking of his head after he mentioned child birth. Her own ears flickered back and she replayed his actions back in her own mind, trying to puzzle out what his actions actually mean.

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Vayl smiled down paternally as Redd ate to her heart's content, swinging his feet innocently as he sat on the edge of the branch.

His almost, almost carefree lavender eyes looked down, scanning the immediate surrounding area, to protect her mostly, but also to admire the view he had over the immediate surrounding area. He would easily be able to see if anyone was approaching Redd, and would at the least see them disturbing the grass. Frowning, innocently, in concentration, a small idea sprung in his mind, and he scurried down the side of the tree, picked up his Katana, and shuffled back up the trunk.

Holding his arms out for balance he slowly stood up on a stable branch, before unsheathing his Katana in a slow Iato, watching with infinite care as the blade shimmered in the sunlight, enjoying the soft scraping of metal on metal, and the delicate note the blade made as it was drawn. His eyes closed as he thought of what he should practice today.

The Hakea, like all moves you shall learn, young student, is only effective if done with the utmost precision. First raise your blade vertical above your head, then slash down and left, at a 45' angle, before repeating the process to the right. You are attempting to draw an 'X' on your opponents flesh. Finally the coup d'etat involves a forwards stab, two handed, into the centre of the 'X' to kill the opponent. Your left hand should be gripping the handle of the blade, and your right should be behind the pommel, the palm touching the pommel, so the highest degree of force can be used in the stabbing motion.

Vayl silently run through this motion in his mind, before tracing the pattern with his sword slowly, making sure his arms were in exactly the correct positions. Finally he tried the move at full speed, one foot in front of the other. His blade sung twice before a sharp crack of air signalled the stab. Opening one eye Vayl look at the tree's trunk ahead of him. There was a neat X carved on the tree with his blade buried several inches deep just above the centre of the X.

Vayl smiled softly. Not bad for a first try.

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Redd]

x

When she had had her fill, she sat back on her haunches, her tongue darting out to lick her muzzle, gathering up any drops of blood. The young wolf was quite content for the moment and just enjoyed the sun that fell upon her coat.

Redd looked up as she noticed the fact that Vayl seemed to be doing something with that pointed weapon again. What was he doing, practising? As he said that was what he was doing with the deer. She didn't fully understand why anyone would need to practise with a weapon. Wouldn't you just point and stab? Perhaps it was similar to claws and teeth, you have to learn when and how to bite.

Opening her jaws wide, she yawned softly before padding over towards her pile of clothes, she figured that he might actually prefer her in her human form rather then wolf. She couldn't talk in wolf form so she figured that it might be better for her to shift.

As the familiar pale light surrounded her in the shift of one form to another and she stood there naked in her human form when the light finally passed. Slowly, she pulled on her clothes, her hazel hues occasionally looking up at Vayl.

Finally, she slipped on her cloak, tying it firmly around her neck and a blissful sigh parted her lips, "Well, I must thank you very much for that, it has been a little while since I've had a fulfilling feed like that."

She paused for a moment as she watched the male for a few ticks before angling her head to the side for a moment, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but you keep talking about your kind and child birth... But you haven't exactly mentioned what your race is. I know that you're not human because you dislike them just as I do and your scent is certainly different."

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Inoadar]

'Oh yes, most assuredly' the poisoner urged silently from the undergrowth, 'tell us what race you are...' Inoadar had a pretty good idea what race this almost unnaturally pale and lanky young man was. But he wanted it confirmed. This was the same troublesome interloper that had made such a nuisance of himself at the weapons display riot. If not for the presence of Elias Caldera, that confrontation may have gone far worse than it ultimately did. And it was only because he and Elias had spontaneously back each others' account of events against that put forward by this stranger. The Ebonstryfe Commander was not convinced, by any means, but circumstances had prevailed in Inoadar's favor that day. And it looked like they may do so again. He hadn't been detected, and he had his blowgun handy. He was puzzled to see the Kelvic wolf girl, whom he'd only ever called 'Red', accompanying the fellow. But her presence did establish the success of his recent efforts to mask his scent from Kelvics. He'd received a number of pointers from the hunter, Ghahinder Telemnar. The most basic of which was in effect right now. The simple tactic of staying downwind from his target. And he was definitely considering the white-haired youngster a target. If, as he suspected, the fellow was one of those spider people, the Symenestra, they had venom of their own which was valuable enough to be worth some trouble. They had to be starved for some reason. He didn't remember the exact details. In fact, he was not sure he'd ever known them. It was just a peripheral subject from the main 'Araneida' course at the IHL. This was a few seasons ago, when he'd learned the families of both fungal and Arachnid toxins. But that was fine with Inoadar. The thought of this arrogant pup, tied up and starving in the boathouse while he milked its venom, gave him a rush of vengeful satisfaction. He'd done nothing to this brat at the riot, yet the fellow had taken it upon himself to incriminate him before that commander. Inoadar knew he had never intended to start any trouble at all. It was that damn fool that had called his name that had set things in motion. After that, pretty much everyone there had contributed to its escalation in one way or another. Yet this punk had chosen to draw the Ebonstryfe's attention to him, like he had started the riot on purpose! And while it was true that Elias seemed to have had the same thing in mind at first, he had seen reason quickly enough to come to unspoken terms with the poisoner. Too bad for this one. He'd hit the kid with a dose of 'Pillowsap'. He'd be asleep in no more than a chime, and out for a bell or more. If he needed, he'd follow up that dose with another. He'd wake up in chains. Then the starvation could commence. 'A fat lot of good his slick new sword will do him then!' he sneered inwardly. And if Red chose to intervene, he'd 'Wildleash' her. That was the one thing he'd regret having to do. But Vayt's Teeth! That's what you get when you involve yourself in someone else' business. Hopefully, the sight of the blowgun would pique her memory and he wouldn't have to use it on her. For now she still hadn't detected him. That injured deer was a godsend in that regard. here he'd washed his clothes in Baker's Powder, and bathed in it as well. Several times over, in fact. Then he'd bought some raccoon piss from his hunter friend, and made sure to rub some tree sap into his clothes as well. On top of that he'd been chewing grass and leaves all morning to reduce the giveaway of his human breath. Another of his Ghahinder's recommendations. Now he was ready to make his strike. He'd stayed out of sight while the skinny sword-wielder had gone through his motions, in a tree of all places! Inoadar smirked at the logic of practicing to fight in a tree. But he grudgingly admitted that such practice would make fighting on solid ground much easier. And he hadn't done too bad in the tree, for that matter. Inoadar knew he was going to have to be sure to make his first shot count.

[Vayl]

x

Vayl looked down darkly at Redd, before hopping off the branch lightly, landing on both feet and a hand, the other hand holding the katana's sheath. He always carried it, didn't trust anything to keep it attached to his body.

"We're known as Symenestra" he said thickly accented. "Nearly all of my kind live in a city underground called Kalinor. It's about a season's travel from Ravok." he muttered, looking down at the ground almost in shame.

"And before you ask, no I'm not taking you there. Firstly, I left there for a reason; and secondly, you'll find the childbirth process happening to you rapidly if you step foot in there."

A glow of anger set over Vayl's expression as he stared at Redd. There was nothing he'd hate more than to return to Kalinor right now, especially if he planned on staying with Redd, which he did. He bit a lip and looked into her eyes sadly.

"Just... be careful ok?" he said, unsure quite why he was saying that.

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why