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Post by christia on Dec 31, 2010 16:09:07 GMT -5
 x  Rustling leaves, the sound of swaying branches, high in the tree to her right a bird chirped. So many sounds. So many smells. The earth, the shrubs, each tree with its own unique scent. There, she could hear tiny claws digging into dirt, smell the warmth of a small body. She wanted it; she wanted to feel the small body snap between her jaws, taste the warm meat and fresh blood. Her nose twitched, her tail slashed at the air with excitement, and her body tensed. The only thing that filled her mind was the mouse, how much she wanted to taste that mouse.
Not that the mouse would make a very good meal, it was much too small for that. Still, she hadn't hunted in a while, and there weren't that many options in the forest. The human part of her brain knew she didn't need the food, there was plenty back at school. The cat part of her wasn't convinced. There was always a need for more food. Without food she would die, and that was that. Besides, she enjoyed the rush of hunting, the triumph when her prey was caught. That part of her was ready to pounce, catch the mice in her claws. But she wasn't solely a cat, she was a cat who could think past instinct, think with human intelligence. What the hell, attacking the mouse wouldn't hurt anything.
She bunched her hind legs, ready to pounce, and stared at the place in the grass she knew the mouse to be hiding. One shot, she had one shot, because if she missed, the mouse would run, and it's tiny body could hide places where she couldn't get to it. Without another thought, she jumped, crossing the few feet between her and her prey in a matter of seconds. Her claw caught the mouse, but it wriggled free and was gone, scurrying desperately away. Follow. Pursue. Eat. But she didn't. It was very unlikely she'd catch the mouse, or anything else in the close vicinity. She would have scared away any small animals.
Oh well. She trotted through the forest, a little disappointed. Still, her little excursion had been fun. She found the tree behind which she'd left her clothes, and slowly began to slide into her own body. It didn't really hurt anymore, the bones popping and reforming, it was just a part of the process. Slowly, not only her body changed, but her mind did as well. The lioness separated from the rest of her mind, leaving only human thoughts. She was still there, of course, but in the background, ready to be called on, when needed. Or wanted. She had yet to need her lioness, but Chris did love to call on her. As a lion she was strong, powerful, free to do as she pleased. She didn't get to shift as often as she would have liked. Even at shifter academy, people were wary.
When she was human once more, Chris slid on a black, long sleeved shirt, and jeans. Instead of putting on her converse, she put them in her book bag. She liked to feel the dirt against her bare feet. Maybe the lioness never fully left her, maybe there was always a part of the cat in her. And that part rather enjoyed nature, and being outside. It was such a loss, not being able to smell, or hear, as well. She lost so much of the beauty in this form. Oh well.
She started the walk out of the forest, going mostly from memory. She'd gone off the trail, not wanting to be disturbed. Privacy was important. She had to strip before shifting, or her clothes would have been torn apart. Not that Chris really minded being seen naked. She was pretty, in great shape, and she knew it. But she didn't think other people would have appreciated walking in on her. Besides, she didn't want to risk getting shot, or something, in her lion form.
Words: 664
Tag: Open
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Post by olliepierce on Jan 7, 2011 17:33:56 GMT -5
[a href="  "] [/a] x[a href="  "] [/a] Oliver 'Ollie' Pierce[/center] Unlike many other shifters, the woods was a somewhat rare stomping ground for Ollie. He craved more wide open space, somewhere to run, somewhere to hunt where his animal alter-ego could really stretch it's legs. The forest was far too... cramped, enclosed, restrictive. The trees were far too densely packed, the roots entwined along the ground creating an unnecessary obstacle for those moving through it, the sky reduced to nought but a distant shaft of blue, visible only through the holes punched through the forest canopy by the intermittant shafts of sunlight which make it through to the thick, lush foliage. Unfortunately the only real 'natural' open space left in the campus was Beluga Beach. The annoying thing was that the beach was normally brimming with students with aquatic shifts of all shapes and sizes, pretentious older male students surfing and generally too much activity for someone trying to enjoy their unique ability in what felt like a tourist hotspot, instead of an empty landscape where one could truely feel 'back to nature', in both mind and body. Regardless, it was the forest that Ollie was forced to return too in his quest for a proper animal experience, in an attempt to distance himself from high school life as much as possible. In Cheetah form, Ollie likes to run, sprint, accelerate as fast as his legs could carry him. After all, being blessed with so much natural speed and athleticism, the human mind inside such an alien body would no doubt seek to test itself, push the limits and see just how fast the animal could go. The forest, as Ollie found out in a much more painful way than he would have liked was a bad place to do this. The trees followed no pattern, no grid, just a random spattering for miles around. No straight lines were available for reaching top speeds, meaning last minute, frankly dangerous banking turns had to be made to avoid running head first into a hefty looking conifer. This would not be an injury Ollie would like to explain to his friends once he went back to the 'real world' and was embaressing if nothing else. The teasing he would recieve may well go on for months, god forbid if he had managed to knock himself unconcious. No only was there the prospect of trees to run into, but on several occasions had Ollie tripped up at high speeds and sent his cheetah self head over heels and flying several feet into the air upon catching a paw within the maze of thick, criss-crossing roots which very regularly featured across the floor. It did not take long for Ollie to realise to pace himself when running through the woods. He was in the woods however searching for solitude, in his bag he had the latest copies of T3, FHM and Stuff. In a clearing about a half hours walk into the forest, there was a huge, broad oak tree. Every week or two, he would travel to it and climb up into its boughs, where the branches formed a rather nice seat, where he could have a little picnic, read some magazines, iPod in, world most certainly turned off for an hour or two. Admittedly, on this occasion Ollie certainly wasn't dressed for a walk in the wood; a white pair of designer plimsolls, some slim fitted stonewash denim jeans, grey beanie hat and a fairly figure hugging bright red designer t-shirt, an identical red (and partially white) messenger back slung over his shoulder. His iPod turned on, one headphone in his ear, the other dangling around his neck, allowing him to listen to the forest at the same time, admittedly compromising the quality of both his music and the wind, small mammals and falling leaves which normally made up the standard 'sounds of the outdoors'. He wasn't too far away from the clearing, and his beloved oak tree, his own little fortress of solitude, and had a smile on his face, walking with a spring in his step, humming to himself as he continued on. This trip however, was different. Ollie was not alone the whole time, somehow, out in the middle of nowhere, completely away from the standard nature trails, Ollie spied a girl walking in his direction, her image flickering in and out of the trees. He recognised her, in the grade below he believed, although he had never sparked up a conversation, he had seen her around the school now and again, though his name escaped him. Ollie approached the girl, popping the other headphone out of his ear and letting it dangle with it's pair. As he got closer, Ollie could start to really make out her features, pretty girl he admitted to himself, however the fact that she wasn't wearing any shoes this far out in the forest seemed to scream 'basket case' to him. Still, it seemed like as good a conversation starter as any, as Ollie darted in and around the trees, stopping around six feet short of her and speaking. [orange]"You appear to have lost your shoes."[/orange] he said, bluntly, a cheeky smile appearing on his face, awaiting her response. Word Count: 866 |
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Post by christia on Jan 9, 2011 18:53:30 GMT -5
x Chris picked her way through the forest, weaving between trees. Each foot was placed carefully on the ground as she walked. She didn't want to stub her toe, or trip over the roots of a tree. It was, however, mostly a subconscious effort, perhaps coming from the part of her cat that never left, or maybe it was just the fact that she'd come to the forest more times than she could count since she first started at Shifter Academy. Before her brother, Asher, had graduated, the two of them had spend a lot of time messing around, running together, hunting together. She missed that. But the forest still held many wonders for her, even without her favorite brother to share them with.
A bird chirped a few feet away, probably high in a tree somewhere, but Chris couldn't quite pinpoint where the sound had come from. If she'd still been a lion, she would have known exactly where it was. Sometimes she wondered how mankind had possibly survived. None of their senses were very well developed, at least compared to other predators, and they had no means of protection. At least, on their own. She had a knife hidden in her bag, and another one in her underwear drawer in her dorm. Technology, that's how humans had survived.
Movement made her look around, though it was difficult to see around all the trees. It had probably been some sort of small animal, she decided, and was about to sink back into thought, when she saw someone walking in her direction. How odd. She never saw people, at least not when she went off the trail. She was still pretty far off the beaten path, at least, she was pretty sure she was. For the most part, she always went to the same area to shift, and she knew the way back pretty damn well. She liked to think so, anyways, and having never gotten lost was pretty good confirmation. So what was this guy doing so far away from the trails? Probably the same thing Chris was doing, or maybe he just wanted to be alone, or maybe he liked hiking through the woods.
As he drew closer, Chris got a better look, and was only more confused about his presence. She recognized him from school, though she didn't know his name, or anything, really, about him. He was just some guy she'd seen walking around campus, maybe she'd had a class with him sometime in her high school career. What confused her was his attire. He wasn't dressed for a walk in the forest. Maybe it had been a spur of the moment decision, and he hadn't wanted to go back and change first. Yeah, that sounded pretty plausible. She didn't know many guys who changed their clothes in the middle of the day, for any reason.
The guy stopped a few feet from her, so Chris stopped, too, looking him over. He was cute, with pretty blue eyes. Chris was a sucker for a pair of nice eyes. Of course, she noticed a guy's body first, but eyes were always second. When he started to speak, she assumed he'd say something along the lines of 'hello', or maybe make a comment on how odd it was to see someone in the middle of nowhere. But no. His comment on her lack of shoes, and his cheeky grin, made her smile and laugh slightly. She glanced down at her bare feet, brown from dirt, before looking back at him and making her response. "Yeah, my book bag ate them."
Words: 597
Tag: Ollie!
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