[PRP] Lessons (Samsara x Terra Stryker) *FIN*

[tefla]

The night air flowed smoothly under Terra's wings. Flying always gave the skinwalker a sense of freedom she rarely felt these days. The confusion and conflict that Terra felt most of the time seemed to ease when she was in flight. Thus she had taken to flying more often than hanging around in her true form. The hunger that she always experienced lingered though and that was causing problems.

Ears twitching rapidly Terra's sonic map of the world beneath her was complete. Her wings folded in tightly to her body as she dove sharply towards the ground. At the last moment the skinwalker banked sharply and struck her target - a rabbit that was caught unaware. Stunning the rabbit with her blow Terra landed awkwardly on the ground before dealing a death blow to the creature. It looked like dinner time was near.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Samsara prowled through the night. She had long since grown familiar with her panther form. She now wore this body as easily as she did her original one. Unlike her clomping hooves, her paws were silent. She moved through her surroundings as silent as a ghost but much more dangerous. She had already fed tonight but there was a deep restlessness in her that wouldn't let go.

Her golden eyes reflected the dim light of the stars and lit up eerily to the creatures that saw her. She sniffed and caught a familiar scent: Blood. Narrowing her eyes curiously, she moved toward the source of the smell. If there was some poor wounded thing out there then her job was to put it out of it's misery, and not necessarily in a kind way.

The smell grew stronger and soon she was able to make out a crumpled figure on the ground. It was a dead rabbit. The animal eating it was far more interesting. It was a giant bat with gleaming red eyes and blood on it's fur. Samsara had never in her life heard of a bat growing that large, let alone preying on rabbits. It didn't smell quite normal either. From the shadow in which she was crouched, she watched it and tried to figure out just what the creature was.  

[tefla]

Terra's hunger was only slightly satiated. The rabbit was not nearly enough to quell the hunger burning inside of her. Crouching on the ground with the rest of her kill abandoned Terra began the tedious job of grooming her wings. It wasn't like a bird grooming more it was Terra lapping off the drops of blood that had splattered among her fur and membranous wings.

It was at this time that Terra realized that she was not alone. Jerking her head up sharply Terra loosed off a series of high pitched squeaks. She remained her crouch letting the sound bounce off objects in the clearing before returning to her ears. The image of the clearing formed in her head and an anomaly was spotted. Something else was in the area and Terra lifted her gaze to narrow in the direction of the anomaly she sensed. Chittering quite loudly Terra expressed her anger at being disturbed.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

So it had noticed her. Samsara didn't move. She remained in her crouch, ready to strike if threatened. She had no fear for this thing, whatever it was. She drew back her upper lip and let out a soft hiss of warning. If it attacked her it had better be prepared to get its wings ripped off.

Curiously, she wondered whether it could speak or understand words. "You there," she growled. "Attack me and die. I have no interest in your kill." That was all she said. She slowly unsheathed the claws on her front paws and flexed her toes to draw notice to them.  

[tefla]

Ears twitching at the words that the creature spoke had Terra stiffening. Now what? Each of them had recognized the other as a potential threat. From her sound map Terra could tell that the creature that had spoken was small. However the voice hinted at a constant undercurrent of rage. Cocking her head to the side Terra chittered in frustration once more before letting silence rule the night once more.

A voice, high-pitched in nature, passed through her lips. "I will not attack. What are you and what do you want here?"

Terra fought an innate instinct to flee. If worse came to worse she could revert forms. Being larger seemed like a good idea right now.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Samsara was not used to conversing with bats and the shrill voice surprised and irritated her. She'd remember to eat them rather than talk to them if the question ever came up again. She guessed by the change in body posture that the bat was on guard. Certainly, it knew what her claws could do to its wings. Unmoving and unblinking, she continued to watch it.

"I am a skinwalker, a nightmare of humans and soquili." She gave half a smirk. "And I don't want anything here. I was just wondering what you are." Idly, she wondered how a demon bat would taste. It probably had little meat under that fluff, hardly worth the effort. Some birds were equally disappointing.  

[tefla]

Terra was caught off guard. A skinwalker? She wasn't the only one then? Her red eyes tried to penetrate the gloom. Finishing the rest of her kill Terra wings unfurled as she waddled forward. Curiosity it seemed was a powerful force. Terra wanted to see this other skinwalker in something besides a sonic map. Inching closer to the creature that she now could sense Terra reached out blindly with her left wingtip claw and swiped a little in front of her. "You say you are a skinwalker? That is very intriguing. I was unaware..."

Terra let her comments die off as she drew ever closer to the creature. Sensing that she was just out of range of the creature's immediate range before letting her movements cease. "I must admit that I am confused. For you see I thought I was the only one."

Letting that revelation sit out in the open Terra shifted uneasily on her feet before letting her wings curl tightly into her body.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The creature approached her but with a distinct lack of grace. It looked like bats were meant to be in the air and not on the ground. Seeing that erased any final doubts Samsara had about her safety. As long as they were on the ground it would be too easy to kill the thing. She would only have to worry if it took flight and even then, she was hardly an easily killed rabbit. It was smart enough to stop out of easy killing distance.

And it was another skinwalker, apparently. Samsara had never even heard of skinwalkers who took the form of bats, but it didn't seem like a lie. The bat had the same glint of bloodlust in her eye, the same lingering aura of madness. She was a skinwalker, and a slightly nervous one from the look of how she shifted from foot to foot. Samsara internally scoffed at that behavior. Since the battle with her father, she had put fear out of her mind.

"You are not the only one," she rumbled. "We are not so numerous as the prey animals that are our cousins, but we are here."  

[tefla]

Terra digested this newly imparted information with interest. To learn that she was not alone was a balm to frayed nerves. Watching the shadows from where the voice came from Terra let her wings lift her off the ground before she landed again in her larger form. Now her gaze picked out the speaker from the shadows of the foliage that hid the visitor. Bringing her left wingtip closer to her mouth Terra ran the claw through her mouth before fixing her gaze on the other skinwalker.

"I thank you for the information. It has been a long time since I've been able to obtain information without having to resort to being taunted at the same time. I'm indebted."

Scratching a hoof over the remains of her kill Terra gauged her appetite and found it to be sated for the moment. It would have to do.

"Whom do I have the honor of addressing?"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Matching the other skinwalker mare, Samsara transformed into her soquili form as well. She looked over the other mare with some interest. Her wings had grown along with her and were as large as the wings of any kalona. She wondered whether the batwalker was capable of true flight even in that form.

She was surprised at the the mare saying she had been taunted, though. Had she let someone taunt her and escape unscathed? Samsara couldn't understand that. When her own father had denied her it had filled her with such a rage that she had been single mindedly devoted to harming him for a long time. The rage that had boiled up in her then would lash out at anyone who dared mock her to her face, she imagined.

"I am Samsara," she murmured darkly. "Do you let lessers mock you often?" From the way she said it, it was half a question and half a challenge.  

[tefla]

Terra's bat ears twitched as the other skinwalker mare revealed her true form before listening to the words that she spoke. The was no lack of curiosity as her gaze took in the feline-like pelt that covered most of her body. It however did not hide the wings that adorned the other mare's back. Those wings looked so delicate but the rest of the Soquili standing in front of her screamed predator. Remembering that she was being addressed Terra let her gaze meander back to Samsara's face. "I didn't let them mock me. They just did. It's not like I had much of a choice in the matter of retaliation. I would have given anything to destroy those that taunted me. I just had the option taken away from me."

Terra's expression became one of pure hatred as she remembered the carnival and her time trapped there. "I was not always free you see. For many moons I was imprisoned against my will. Only recently was I able to escape and flee that cursed place. But I regress. I've learned your name but you do not know mine. I am known as Terra Stryker."  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

More and more surprises. Samsara could hardly believe that someone had kept a skinwalker against their will. Zulian had shown signs that he had spent some time working with humans, but he was always looking back on it with something close to fondness. Somehow, either soquili or humans had kept a fully grown batwalker mare captive when she should have just flown away or killed them all.

"Nice to meet you." That particular group of words was said out of habit and not politeness. Some habits were so ingrained from before the time she was cursed that they were hard to shake off.

"I hope you killed them for their disrespect," she hissed.  

[tefla]

Terra's mind flitted back to her time in the carnival. Those memories needed to be purged as soon as possible. However at the same time she needed to keep them in order to learn how to take down those responsible. She had merely wanted to get free of the carnival before thinking about going back to destroy those there.

"I have not been able to retaliate as of yet. I do not like to admit it but I am not strong enough to combat the magicks that they employed to keep me bound. This state of mine is also due to them. I will pay them back for what they have done though make no mistake."

Terra's hide shivered with delight at the thought of the carnage she would cause when she was ready. Glancing at Samsara she wondered if the mare would aid her in her quest. The idea was nixed as soon as it formed. It would be her revenge alone.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

A skinwalker seeking revenge. Samsara was interested. She sensed that she had found someone who might benefit from her little quest to make the world a darker place. This skinwalker 'sister' she had met needed direction and she thought she might be able to give her a few. She wanted to do such evil, she just didn't know where to go.

"So the humans hurt you." Her voice was now half croon and half growl.

Her tail was now swaying behind her with her interest and it wafted feline scent around her. "You cannot get revenge on those humans, but that will come with time." She watched the other skinwalker intently. "But what... about the other humans?" she asked with a delicate quietness. "There are other humans not so well guarded, and it was their race as a whole that hurt you."  

[tefla]

Terra growled uneasily. It wasn't directed at Samsara but merely the thought of others trying the same trick of those from the carnival. Listening intently to Samsara she realized that the other skinwalker had the right idea. While she couldn't go after the ones responsible for her transformation and captivity there were other, helpless, humans that she could sink her teeth into.

Cold, calculating eyes fixed onto Samsara's as Terra let silence fill the clearing as she thought about this notion. Her eyes closed momentarily as visions of death and destruction floated through her mind. A pleased smirk appeared on her face as she reopened her eyes to find Samsara's gaze.

"I think I may just have to thank you Samsara. The idea that you have voiced seems like it just might work. To go after the race that helped imprison me against my will would seem like the perfect retribution. I've longed to take out my frustration against someone and you have painted a lovely picture."