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 Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:18 pm
 Bithiah Iseret Bubastis A short while after she'd fallen asleep the young woman woke again, on full alert though unsure of what had woken her. Staying in the trees rather than returning to the ground, she leapt effortlessly from branch to branch until the trees ran out and she realized she wasn't even in Colorado anymore. More like Kansas. Wheat and corn fields stood as far as her eyes could see. She took human form again and began making her way east by northeast through the fields, trusting the crops would conceal her until she reached wherever it was that her instincts were pulling her.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:15 pm
 Dex could hardly pass up a friendly conversation, plus possibley a bit of meat to satisfy his hunger. The exchange of words between the two shapeshifters made him uneasy, but company was hard to come by, so he simply stood and listened. Although a bit of that, Dex found himself crouching down involuntarily, his strength weakening with the scarcity of food he could stomach. Being a picky eater did not help his bony frame, or his weak immune system.
"A dead rabbit would be lovely." Dex's voice was again quiet, but since he was crouching he found more motivation to be louder, careful not to set anyone off. He didn't like fighting, if the shapeshifters started to brawl, Dex would have to flee. The only fighting he had ever done was before he lost most of his hearing, and that just made him not want to talk to anyone. The government had never tried to attack him personally, but they made sure that he did not have much contact with any other shapeshifters. This was why Dex was so intimidated by these three, they were the first shapeshifters he had ever been in contact with.
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Irako of the Desert Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:51 pm
 ♞xxxxxxxxxxxRichard Leonard Bayard
History is written on the backs of horses Richard gave a snort at the idea that destiny was involved. "Yeah, I bet somewhere in the universe, our every move is being controlled by superior beings who decided we should all run into each other in order to start some grand adventure." He rolled his eyes. "Destiny's a b***h if she decided that it was our lot to be hunted by the government and slaughtered. Even the animals we turn into don't get treated like that. Some of 'em are even protected species."
At Vee's question about tails, he shook his head. "Not so far as I know. I've been horse for a few days now, and I haven't seen any sign of humans. Well, until now, of course."
The mention of dead rabbit made him crack a smile. It was probably attractive to the carnivorous shifters, but he would rather stay horse and eat grass than stay human and gnaw on raw rabbit. It wouldn't go that far between four people anyway. He glanced at Dex, and his smile faded. Damn, that boy was scrawny. Didn't the kid know how to hunt? The great thing about being a shifter was that you kept your human intelligence, which was a great advantage when finding stuff to eat. Plus, his form was so ubiquitous. Foxes were way more common than top-of-the-line Friesians, and would be less suspect.
With a gruff cough, he said, "I'll pass on dead rodent, thanks. I can make you guys a salad to go with it. There just won't be any dressing." He grinned, revealing the partial sarcasm. There were enough edible plants here that he could get them, though it would probably be a lot worse than anything made from stuff in a grocery store. Dex especially looked like he needed it, and fugitives didn't have the luxury of being picky.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:56 pm
 Kiacy Khalid Kiacy shot an annoyed look at Richard, she opened her mouth to say something but stopped, it wouldn't be very smart of her to make an enemy of another shifter. Kiacy wiped a fleck of snot off of her shirt before surveying the group. Dex seemed skinny, not in a very unhealthy way, and Richard seemed healthy enough, even if he had just spewed horse snot on Kiacy. After a few moments of thinking, Kiacy decided that either they would manage to keep each other alive, or possibly end up killing each other. She shrugged, the second things seemed off, she was leaving.
Kiacy looked back at Vee when she asked if anyone had been tailing us, she shrugged, "Nope, they're pretty slow and easy to lose. The last one that tried to kill me was a long time ago," Kiacy said. She smiled slightly when Vee asked if anyone wanted dead rabbit, she had attempted to not eat dead creatures for as long as possible, but she was getting tired of eating plants and 'borrowing' food from gas stations. "Sure, why not," Kiacy said, attempting to smile. The thought of eating something raw made her stomach turn, but then again, what other options for food did she have? Kiacy
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:44 pm
 xxxxxA g h a v e a g h McMURPHY
The others didn't seem to think anything about the fact that Vee had invited them to eat dead rabbit. The way life has been for all of them, perhaps being offered a dead animal was a luxury. Vee was just glad they didn't recoil in disgust. At least two of them didn't. Richard had politely declined Vee's 'offer,' instead suggesting he make salad instead. Maybe he was vegetarian. Dex replied so softly, Vee barely heard him. Again, that utterly vulnerable pose that made Vee just want to sidle up next to him and give him a hug. Vee didn't do hugs, though. She didn't do hugs since she was seven.
She was glad to find out that none of them hadn't encountered any of the government's crooks lately, but she could never be too sure. They might have found some way to follow them undetected. She would keep her guard up. She smiled faintly at Kiacy. "Long time ago? I guess you've had it better than others, then." The last agent who came across her path had been a couple of days ago, and she'd just barely escaped.
Vee looked towards the sky. It wasn't exactly the normal dinner time yet. The sun was still up in the sky. Late afternoon, she assumed. They could have an early 'dinner.' Dex looked like he would collapse in the next minute if he didn't get food. She clapped her hands together decisively. "Alright then. Dead rabbit, improvised salad - looks like we'll be having a feast for the gods tonight. You think we should risk a fire?" Vee thought a bit, pursing her lips. "A small one, maybe. We would risk detection, but personally, I'd rather die from a bullet than from salmonella."
Turning, Vee walked over to a stout tree, one that had clumps of bushes and fallen, dry leaves scattered across its roots. She pulled a bush up, revealing it to be fake. A dirty backpack and other things were piled underneath.
"I find it helps," she said, pulling the backpack out, "to always have a backup supply of food and the like when I'm not able to nab an animal or two." She hefted the backpack over her shoulders, pulling her long, unkempt hair out from underneath the straps. "There's a stream nearby, around two hundred yards off. Could I trust you all not to run off or stab me in the back while I go rinse the main dish? Rabbit doesn't taste very good covered in dead leaves."
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:50 am
♞xxxxxxxxxxxRichard Leonard Bayard
History is written on the backs of horses At the idea of a fire, Richard's face turned dark. "Why don't you just turn into your animal shapes and eat it? A fire is just going to A) make people panic and think a forest fire is about to start, or B) make people think there are bums squatting and call cops to get them out." He suddenly looked at each one in turn, examining them critically. "Your animal forms' stomachs are better equipped to deal with raw meat, and it'll just get used by both forms to keep your strength up. Didn't you know that?"
An idea formed in his mind quickly, and he spoke before he thought it all the way out. "Or is it that you don't know how to be wild animals?" That would explain Dex's scrawniness and Miss Kitty's reluctance to eat dead rodent. Vee might be better off, having been able to catch and kill that rabbit in the first place, but when it came to eating it, she wanted to stick to human ways and cook it first. If there was one thing that Richard knew, it was that they weren't human, not completely, anyway. They couldn't live by the same rules as humans did. The government had forced them out of that comfortable way of life and into this struggle to survive.
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Irako of the Desert Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:21 am
The thought of the warmth of a fire made Dex's skin shiver, but the horse did have an excellent point. The attention of any civilization was not to be toyed with, and finding either four people or animals that weren't really supposed to be together in this forest wasn't a very keen survival tradegy. In his fox form, Dex could certainly eat raw meat, and sometimes it was better that way, not having to cook it. The horse was right, we did not have to make a fire, but it sure did sound swell.
"We should not risk it." his voice was soft, but firm. Dex did not like to be seen as someone to give orders, so he would be alright just being a person in the sidelines. He was certainly used to being in charge of his own actions, but when it came to leading other people, he was not the best for it.
The comment of not knowing how to be a wild animal appalled Dex. It almost made him scoff, just almost. Dex had no right to judge the other shapeshifters. If they could not be wild animals, he would just have to be patient. Meat only made Dex's stomach too heavy to run, he could hunt.
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:08 pm
Kiacy Khalid Kiacy smiled slightly when Vee mentioned that she had had it better than others. She shrugged, "It wasn't too hard. I just stayed in trees and only traveled at night. It's a lot easier that way," Kiacy said.
Kiacy sighed when Vee mentioned making a fire, as much as the idea of eating something cooked appealed to her, she had to agree with Richard. It was too risky to try lightning a fire, even if it meant that she would have eat a raw rabbit. She was almost tempted to have salad instead. "No, I have to learn to eat something raw as an animal or I won't last very long," Kiacy thought firmly. "I guess we'll just have to suck it up and eat raw rabbit," She said, looking over at Vee. "You can clean off the rabbit and we won't try to kill you. Even if we're eating it raw, it shouldn't be covered in leaves and who knows what," Kiacy said looking at the rabbit
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:16 pm
xxxxxA g h a v e a g h McMURPHY
Vee smirked again when Kiacy shrugged nonchalantly and said she only stayed above ground and traveled at nighttime to avoid capture. Like I said. You have it better than others, she thought. Trees would hardly help hide Vee from detection. But then again, a wolf cowering up in a tree's branches made an unusual sight in the first place.
Almost right after she suggested it, the others protested against the idea of a fire. Vee sighed in exasperation. Really, eating raw meat wasn't that much of a problem for her, but she hadn't had cooked food in a while. It would be a nice change. Plus, they couldn't talk if they were in their animal forms. But Richard did make a good point. They shouldn't risk a fire.
He should have ended it with that, but Richard had to add one last thing. "Or is it that you don't know how to be wild animals?"
Vee could have laughed. It was nearly insulting. "Watch your mouth," she snapped, grabbing the rabbit by a torn ear. "If we didn't, none of us would be alive right now." She shrugged. "If you all are so against a little fire, then fine. That only leaves you, Richard, to get your own food, since horses are herbivores."
She stalked off towards the stream. She made sure to move fast, before they decide to just take off. Upon reaching the cool water, she opened her backpack and took out a large canteen to fill. As for the rabbit, she just dunked it in the water and let the current rinse it.
Upon reaching the clearing once more, she held up the sopping rabbit with a shrug. "Rabbit's a little soggy. I'm afraid it's a big under-cooked." She glanced at Dex. He definitely looked like he needed the meat the most. "I already had my share. You all are free to divide it as you like." She tossed Dex the mangled rabbit, then sat down by a tree, resting her back against the trunk.
Vee took a good, long look at each of the Shifters in the clearing. She was curious. What had their lives been like these past years? Probably not much different than hers. There were some who had it better than others, Kiacy and Richard looking like one of those few. All of them were on the run, couldn't ever stay in the same place for more than a couple of days. So how was it they all happened to meet in this one area, at this exact time?
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:15 am
Dex silently sighed as the wolf girl went to wash off the rabbit, a fire would have been slightly nice. He actually smirked when she again made a comment about not being a wild animal, not knowing how to hunt. Guess she found it as offensive as Dex had.
When she returned, and unceremoniously tossed the rabbit at Dex, he softly belted out a surprise,"Oh my dear." and easily caught it. He was just happy that none of the shapeshifters talked exeptionally fast, so he could understand everything that was being said at the moment. He was dying to shift back though, so he could actually hear himself eat. It was a joy at the very least to hear the bones crunch, it was what he always listened for when eating. A bit strange, of course, but probably nothing compared to what these shapeshifters have seen.
Dex knew that the horse was not going to eat raw rabbit, so he slightly turned to the ocelot,"I do not need much to survive." He quickly broke one of the rabbit's legs off, and went to hand the ocelot girl the rest of the rabbit. It was true he did not need much to survive, and a rabbit leg like this could keep him going for a few days, although if they were going to run again, he would need to eat some nuts.
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Irako of the Desert Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:32 pm
♞xxxxxxxxxxxRichard Leonard Bayard
History is written on the backs of horses Richard held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Take it easy. I was just asking a question, yeesh." Why did everyone get upset at that question? He'd spent his fair share of time struggling with his identity back in high school and wondering if he was more beast than man. His parents hadn't been much help, since whenever he'd asked about it, they'd just given him the speech about how important it was not to be noticed and that talking about being shifters might get them noticed. It wasn't until after they'd been killed that he'd been able to figure out his identity and begin learning how to be a horse.
After Vee went to clean the rabbit, Richard began looking around for edible plants. Nothing was available in the immediate area, but once he moved away several yards, he managed to run across a bunch of groundnut plants. It was easy to collect enough of the tubers for four people, and he decided to bring one of the plants back whole as well, since all of it was edible. They had a lot of protein, which was important to keep up their strength. It would help Fox Boy a lot.
He returned to find Dex and Kiacy sharing the rabbit, and Vee with her back to a tree. Wordlessly, he began passing out the tubers along with a section of the plant before finally biting into his own share. He kept significantly less, since he'd been grazing off and on all day, so he wasn't particularly hungry. The groundnuts tasted pretty good for being raw, a bit like potatoes with a touch of nuttiness.
When he was finished munching, he looked up and said, "So what's everybody's story?" Being on the run was lonely, and despite his brusque attitude, Richard was glad to meet other shapeshifters. His horse nature longed to be in a herd of similar creatures, and here he had the makings of one right in front of him.
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:30 pm
xxxxxA g h a v e a g h McMURPHY
Richard wasn't there when Vee returned. It looked like he took Vee's words to heart and went hunting for some edible plants. It wouldn't be hard to find some. Edible plants were scattered all over the place. Vee knew the forest like the back of her hand. Her house was -- correction, her house used to be -- just a few kilometers from where they were at the moment, and she'd wandered in here many times before. Richard returned minutes later, successful in his search. He passed out tubers from groundnut plants, and a little piece of the groundnut plant itself. Vee took it without a word, and oh-so-subtly set it down beside her. Plants and nuts wasn't nearly as appetizing as a good, live rabbit.
It seemed Richard was thinking the very thing Vee thought about a few minutes previously. "So what's everybody's story?" he asked.
Vee didn't answer right away. "Not much of a story," Vee said, the bitterness in her voice apparent. "I'm pretty sure each of our stories is similar to the next. Had some peaceful times at first. Then they came, lots of panic, lots of confusion, lots of bullets. Parents died trying to protect us." Vee fingered a nut and threw it at a tree halfheartedly. "Over the years, I did my bit to pay back what's due to them."
She wondered what they would say, if they said anything, when they realized that she didn't wait for the agents to come to her, since she didn't think any of them would go looking for agents, either, unless they had some skill in their normal forms. She doubted they would be able to do anything against the agents in their animal forms. She'd questioned many times whether or not she was human because she didn't feel anything when she killed them, but she had dismissed it as an idiotic question. Of course she wasn't human. Not fully, anyway.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 8:26 pm
Kiacy Khalid Kiacy looked up at Dex, almost shocked when he handed her the majority of the rabbit, "Uh, thanks,". She wasn't even sure that she still wanted to eat that thing raw, regardless of what Richard had said about her not knowing how to be a wild animal. Kiacy shrugged it off, she had to eat, regardless of what it was. She quickly shifted and delicatly ate a large portion of the rabbit before scooting it aside.
She relaxed as an ocelot for a few minutes before Richard came back with tubers, Kiacy shifted back into a human and took a small bites, eating slowly. When Vee shared her story, Kiacy couldn't help but listen, no matter how sad and vauge it may be. Kiacy frowned, she prefered to keep what was in the past out of her mind, it didn't seem to do much good when she was thinking about it all the time. It simply distracted Kiacy when she needed to keep all of her attention on surviving, not moping over what happened a while ago. Finally, Kiacy decided to speak, "Not much to say about my past. Lived in an orphange, never knew my parents. Then some *ssholes burned it down, they may of been from the goverment or not, I don't know. I was the only one still alive after that," Kiacy said simply, not wanting to get into depth on how most of the kids were shot down in front of her. She leaned back, waiting for someone else to talk to get the attention off of her.
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Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 8:49 pm
Dex sort of chuckled when the ocelot girl seemed surprised that he had given her most of the rabbit, but it wasn't as if he could eat all of that. His stomach would implode in on itself, not too pretty.
Both of the girls' stories were sort of depressing, but Dex's was not. He lived a nice life, he never saw sadness around him until he started out on his own a few months ago. Even then, it was only the occasional death of a wild animal or something as insignificant as that. The other shapeshifters would most likely sigh in exasperation at his lack of a sob story, and maybe even scoff at him for not knowing how to empathize with their sorrow. Empathy was something that not only Dex lacked, he did not want it either. "Well, my story is sweet and simple. Not sad nor violent."
His past was not something doted upon, it was cheerful.
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Irako of the Desert Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 12:05 pm
♞xxxxxxxxxxxRichard Leonard Bayard
History is written on the backs of horses Richard listened quietly to each short summary of everyone's life. The lack of detail was frustrating, but only to be expected. None of them knew each other that well yet. He realized they were looking at him expectantly.
"I suppose it's only fair to share mine after you all said your bit." He stretched, cracked his neck from side to side, and said, "My parents were paranoid, so we moved around a lot. When I graduated school, they kicked me out. A month later, I found out they'd been killed by agents. I've been staying out of sight mostly since then."
He looked at Vee and added, "Vengeance usually doesn't end well for the one going after it. Is that why agents have been on your tail?"
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