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Auric Halcyon Vice Captain
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 Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:23 am
It was a hot night, hotter than usual in summer and Shere found himself reminded of another place that held a heat like a sauna in the rainy season and an intensity like an oven in the dry. He leaned lazily over the balcony of his family's summer home; the house deadly quiet inside because none of his family were here (they were more than comfortable with this arrangement) and closed his too bright eyes.
The island sounds trickled into his senses, alight with the life of birds and insects; chirping and clicking away in the throws of carnal mating rituals he'd never understood. What he missed were the hoots of the monkeys; the howl of the wolves- the hiss of boa constrictors and the threat of predators. He could close his eyes and see all of this; could feel it all rippling across his mind- the warming heat of the jungle nights and the scent of jasmine choking the air. There was a smell here; in Bludlake- coconuts and palm trees. There were other flowers here- sweet and cloying and it made his body ache to be a different shape.
The Durga understood hunter's lust. They understood blood and violence. Most noble families had enough of it in their history to soak for centuries. There was no such thing as a clean conscience amongst his kind. Secrets and guilt buried by time and the hopes that history could forget lessons written in carnage. His bloodline understood that; they embraced the tempest of their will- hugged the very edges of sanity and brought themselves through crucibles of agony and torment.
Shere Khan sighed. And yet there he was; alone in a city of vampires and the forgotten and not a family in sight. He'd thought they would understand that the animal had been too much for him to contain- but only his little brother had understood; only he had outwitted the mighty hunter and dragged his brother from the tiger skin.
He'd promised Mowgli that he would not let those instincts take him again. That he would keep the Lord's rules- not to draw attention to himself, not to cause the human populace to run screaming in the night; to hide from sharp fangs and a raging snarl.
The scars along his back split open in a rush of fur and a pained scream turned into a tiger's roar a moment later as he fell to all fours and took on the shape of the terrifying jungle cat.
Orange and black stripes errupted over his skin and seemlessly formed into his the shape of the cat.
A young island boy, mortal servant to the noble house came running and stopped dead as he saw Shere Khan's second form.
Shere shook his way from his clothing and stretched his body out long-ways. Blood glistened on the fur on his back although it would dry and the wound had closed over. He shook his head to clear his whiskers from his jumper and glanced his enormous green-yellow eyes back out, across the city.
The tiger leaped from the balcony and landed with a crunch on the roof of a car pulling up below, bounding away without a second glance at the guests pulling up at the villa apartments.
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:43 am
Eztli was bored, plain and simple, questioning why he'd come to this place to begin with... and really he couldn't quite recall his reasoning. He knew that there was that part of him that wanted to be among his 'own kind' for a while, to relax for a short amount of time knowing that he was amongst those like himself, not having to pretend to be something weak and pitiful, something he was not. Now that he was here though, currently curled up in his cat form in the lap of some busty noblewoman, he was questioning the decision. Sure, it was nice to relax like this from time to time in theory but the things he loved most weren't here. On some island sanctuary where vampires went about their lives without too much outside threat he found himself quickly growing bored with the 'peace' of this place.
How he itched to run into a hunter, one that was loaded up on adrenaline and hunting Ez down to 'avenge his family' or whatever nonsense drove them. Those were his favorite sort of people to toy with he thought to himself, shifting himself so that he could roll over onto his back, looking around at the others present. They were a bit like dolls in a way, beautiful to look at but some of them really didn't have a lot going one behind those eyes of theirs. It was as though for some the long years of their immortal lives had dragged on for a bit too long, leaving them all a bit dull, it was like starring at a herd of cows. It was one of those things that just bored him to a grand extent, making him want nothing more then to just stir up trouble to see if he could get an amusing reaction out of them.
His mind set to whirling, debating over what the reaction might be if he were to tear the throat out of the pretty woman he was currently using as a comfortable seat. An interesting diversion, but not really want he was hungering for he thought to himself. A thought that seemed to flutter away instantly when he heard... a roar? It seemed a little distant but at the same time had completely captured his attention as it screamed 'danger', something Eztli knew full well that he was addicted to. Time to go and see what it was making a fuss he thought to himself as he pushed to his feet, hopping off the woman's lap, leaving her and her friends behind so that they could continue on with whatever boring card game they had been playing. Whatever was going on outside had captured his attention completely and it wasn't long before the small, black cat was padding along toward the sound and scent of the creature that had captured his attention.
He would chase down the creature and figure out exactly what he was dealing with and then, if it was worth his time, he might very well pounce if only to alleviate his boredom. If nothing else it had to be better then how he'd been spending his time since he'd come to this island... and if not then he was going to head back to civilization and see about stirring up some trouble, maybe lure in some hunters, something truly fun!
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Auric Halcyon Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 4:23 am
Khan padded from one side of the small villa road to the other; his paws hitting cool sand and his ears flicking around to take in the sound of the island's main swimming bay just a ways up the beach. He turned his large head toward the wind and licked his whiskers to get a better feel for the world. The heat was harsher with fur and he rolled in the sand to try and get it to ease the burden. His matted fur left a bloody trail where he rolled and the grit rubbed the skin under his hairs delightfully.
He tried to forget this form when he could. Tried to forget the way his mind warped as he took shape into this thing that was a king amongst kings. How did his kind ever fall prey to the notion that they were not meant to rule mortals? He had no idea. Shere Khan rolled to his feet and let out a vericious roar- a challenge in the language of animals. A few nobles playing night volley-ball stopped and glanced at him. Two girls flinched away from his unwavering stare and Shere growled low in his throat; focusing on them like the prey they were.
A noble who had no sense of predatory instinct was just as bad as a human. How useless to have no fangs? He would be doing them a favour to rip their throats out before they bred with others. Poluting the gene-pool with wimps. A young boy, barely out of his teen years hissed at him from the volley-ball nets and bared his teeth.
Shere Khan yawned, his tail flicking with interest before he shook himself- gaze following to the sound of the ocean and the waves once more.
He sniffed imperially and wandered forward, head held regally as he sauntered past the cowering girls and the hissing little boy. That dark skin reminded Shere of Mowgli. Instant annoyance and respect rose in him. The latter won, for now.
The tiger sauntered past the beach-volley ball and a few more seaside villas. There were victorian manner houses, italian villas, fijian shacks- with the dome overhead it was always evening or twilight. The tides mostly broke against the exterior of the dome but animals often got in.
The tiger watched as a dolphin broke the surface of the water and flipped back under. He liked his whiskers.
Shere trotted down the sand, pausing at a palm tree to sniff the unpleasant aroma of a cockerspaniel. He sprayed over the dog-smell and might have laughed at the look that a human servant gave him. Let them stare. He was the wild and untamed; this place was as toothless as any city. Offensive? Well fine, as long as he didn't break the rules, right?
Shere padded closer to the surf; his large, thick pawprints becoming more obvious on the harder sands.
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 2:08 pm
So it was a tiger then? He'd started to suspect a fellow feline as he walked along but this was a bit different then what it was that he was expecting. Interesting at least, and most certainly not what he'd been expecting to find on an island like this one. A shame that he seemed to have little in the way of manners though, going about marking anything and everything as though he were a mere beast and nothing more. Ez found himself instantly debating if the guy was even worth his time. Sure, he was interesting, he was also a predator and there fore more then worth hunting, but at the same time he might not be in control of himself. Did that mean that he was so young that he couldn't control his powers? Perhaps the tiger in him was just that dominating? Hard to say, as such the small black cat continued to pad along after the tiger silently. He was heading for the beach, was he? Was he as bored as Ez was, wanting to just swim away from this place? Not as though it were so easy, one was better off using the normal means of entering and exiting the place given it was magical in nature. How else would they keep out as many human ships as they did? Humans ventured too close and bad things tended to happen... though on the up side for them it often times got the island prey to munch on. Given there had been no ship wrecks lately there wasn't even that bit of entertainment to be had leaving him with only the tiger. As such, even if he was a bit on the crass side, Ez still found him interesting enough to continue the pursue. Given the ruckus the tiger's presence was causing Ez felt he didn't even have to sneak along, not as though anyone would notice his presence when there was a tiger nearby, still, it was habit for him to move along in a careful and sneaky manner, not a habit he wanted to fall out of when he didn't plan on staying here all that much longer. No, soon enough he would be back out in the 'real world' battling against hunters, so maybe going after a tiger was a good thing? A way to sharpen his skills before returning home? What was that saying... hmm... catching a tiger by the tail, wasn't it? Something that made him grin a bit in his cat form as he watched the tiger's tail swishing from side to side, tempted to grab it just to see what the guy might do. The temptation soon became too great for Eztli and he moved forward in a blur, lunging forward to catch hold of the tiger's tail. It would be interesting to see what sort of reaction he might get out of the giant kitty.
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Auric Halcyon Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 4:05 am
He was just starting to enjoy the feel of the sand under his paws and forget about the worrisome thoughts scrolling throuhg his mind when something sharp latched onto his swishing tail from behind.
Shere stopped and turned, in a manner very un-tigerlike he twisted so he could see what the heavy weight was digging into his appendage and squishing it flat to the sand was.
A plain black housecat had attacked him. Like he was some cotton on a stick or a shiny bauble. He sat his backside down contemplatively, citrine eyes staring at the offending party. Not likely to be a real cat; most would have run in a panic at a tiger- and Shere wouldn't have blamed them.
Had he looked so pathetic when he'd still been a child? Pah.
The tiger's paw raised up, no claws and he contemplated swatting the little cat. A simple lesson; don't bite off more than you can chew. But then, he would be in trouble; for the same reason he knew killing fangless youngsters would get him in trouble. Rules. It was against too many rules.
Left with this truth and an otherwise harmless cat he gave a suffering sigh. How was he supposed to avoid temptation when it jumped right at him? It would be easy to swat a fly who thought he was not to be feared.
Shere's body twisted and the fur faded away to a shedding mist that smelled of musky tiger and blood. His back reformed; the malformed scars and hideous wound ripping open once more and blood trickling from the places the fur vanished into his dark, Indian skin. His silky hair fell in a veil over the wound a moment later as he twisted like a feral animal in a human body. He reached out lightning fast to grab the kitten at the scruff and stand up with the prize. His eyes were the only part that didn't really change with his shape.
He stood and started marching determinedly into the surf. Tigers liked water; not so much the average housecat.
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 4:19 am
As the tiger lifted a paw, looking as though he were about to take a swipe, Ez before his excitement rise... though it was something that lasted for only a moment. It seemed as though the big tiger wasn't going to rise to his bait, was he? A shame, here he thought that he might get a fun tussle with the big kitty... but the tiger didn't seem interested? That was odd, one would think that such a big predator would be eager to try to take a bite out of something smaller then him that had been baiting him. He supposed this was a lesson to be learned, that one baited bears, not tigers, such a shame, but there might still be fun to be had here if he could figure out exactly what it was that he needed to do to really ruffle the tiger's fur.
Of course just as Ez was thinking that the tiger suddenly shifted, taking on his true form, and he found himself starring for a moment. Well now, there was an enjoyable sight to behold for certain. He was a good looking one, strong features, nice dark flesh, and those eyes. Those were nice eyes, the eyes of a predator, the sort that reminded him of once upon a time ago, hunting panthers back home with his kinsmen. A thought that he shoved aside, not wanting to concentrate too hard on those old memories, not when it had been ages since he'd been home... if he could even call it that anymore.
The tiger man lunged, catching hold of Eztli by his scruff, lifting him up off the ground in a manner he found to be a bit on the annoying side. What was it about a scruff that made one fall into a sort of dazed state? He supposed he knew the very basic reasoning behind it but he was far, far from a little kitten he thought to himself in annoyance. Pushing through the haze that came along with being scruffed he realized that they were heading for the water, making him wonder what the guy was up to. Did he plan on trying to drown him? Surely he must know that being shoved under water was more of an annoyance for their kind then anything else, right? Still, it was interesting, tempting Ez to just allow the tiger to have his way, to see what it was that he was planning. A moment of debate later he decided to do just that, allowing his curiosity to get the better of him, wanting to see exactly what it was that the tiger man was plotting.
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Auric Halcyon Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 4:28 am
The cat seemed to enjoy being man-handled and he sighed; no doubt some little masochistic punk who wanted an elder to set him on a path of excitement and fire the spirits. What were they; the gangs these days? Lost souls clinging to each other in a way that Shere found desperate. As desperate as he clung to Mowgli's rules and promises.
He strode into the water easily; it was placid tonight and he stopped when he reached his hips, "I'm too lazy to teach a brat."
He dropped the cat then, at arm's length with a mildly amused smile to see how the kitty got along with the water.
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 4:42 am
Ez lifted his gaze to stare at the tiger as he was carried along, his tail swishing for a moment feeling quite excited over whatever might be about to occur... at least until he was told that the tiger was 'too lazy to teach a brat'. They were world that almost physically hurt because it meant that the tiger wasn't going to offer him up any sort of fun, was he? A moment later the man merely held him out at arm's length and let him go. It was a great disappointment to the Hunhua who had been looking to him for entertainment, and he didn't mean to get wet over what turned out to be a rather boring venture. Snapping open a pair of black raven wings the black cat flapped his way back over to the shore, landing there lightly on all fours just beyond where the water was lapping against the beach. Turning to face the tiger he sat down, starring at him for a long moment before he said, "For a predator you're rather tame, aren't you? How boring you turned out to be..." He gave a little sigh, something that might almost appear to be an amusing sight, that of a winged cat sighing as though he were being put out by the tiger's self proclaimed 'laziness'. A shame, he was so close to being interesting... but this was just one of those cases of, what was the saying, not judging a book by its cover? He might look like a tiger but he was acting like a kitten, which bored Ez greatly. Folding his wings against his back before he lifted his back leg, scratching it against his ear, and set to debating over what he should do next. The tiger obviously wasn't going to prove to be any fun, so that meant looking for his fun elsewhere. Bah, that likely meant leaving the island, huh? If even the tigers here were lazy and boring then he really needed to get back to the real world to resume hunting hunters there.
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Auric Halcyon Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 5:28 am
Shere watched the cat sprout wings and flap away from the water. It was a neat trick. He'd never been one for adjusting what nature had given him. Shere moved slightly, the soft swell of the water lapping against his ruined back and blood seeping from the wounds there. If it hurt; he gave no indication, his face stony and eyes unreadable. "Count yourself lucky brat, I've killed men for irritating me less." He growled in response. How obnoxious. This little twerp that thought Shere was an amusement. He was lucky that Shere had agreed to live by rules, that Shere was trying at least. A flash of fur stirred across his cheek and the angry hiss of his other form seemed about to tear its way out of his flesh. The after-image vanished as quickly as it had come. His gaze left the winged cat and he ducked under the water submerging into the clear, warm surf. It might have been impossible for their kind to live on any other tropical island, but this was their refuge at least. The invasion of salt water cooled his skin and head a little.If the cat was still there when he came up for air, he would probably splash it.
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Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 11:46 am
Tiger baiting had been fun but this tiger wasn't nearly as fun, nor was he as intimidating, as the panthers that Ez had dealt with ages ago back in his homeland. As such it seemed as though the fun he was seeking out wasn't to be found here. Not to mention that the tiger that he'd literally had by the tail a moment ago was swimming now. A shame, he'd almost gotten a rise out of him. Perhaps next time? Eztli allowed himself to shift back to his natural form, crossing his arms behind his head, and he laid back in the warm sand. His mismatched eyes sank closed, his body relaxing a bit. The fun was over for now and he supposed he could just lay here for a while, enjoying the sound of the surf. A lazy moment every now and then wasn't so bad he supposed, though once he was rested up he was going to bail, this place, while relaxing, was beyond dull. Didn't his brothers and sisters miss the thrill of the hunt? The fun that came along with stalking and killing their own food? The excitement that came from killing someone that was hunting you. He didn't quite get how so many of his kind could just come here and congregate. Well save for it being a land of people who were either lazy or weak, he supposed that might account for it? Stretching out a bit Eztli just lounged in the sand, opening up one eye to glance over toward the tiger that was swimming around in the ocean. There was a part of him that was a bit curious about that one, likely because he was a fellow cat, but hell if he was going to follow him into the water without good reason.
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